


The Parcel Sorter

by rdalvi



Category: Original Work
Genre: Female Protagonist, Multi, Pagan Gods, Urban Fantasy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-11
Updated: 2016-08-02
Packaged: 2018-05-13 06:09:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 29,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5697886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rdalvi/pseuds/rdalvi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Let me tell you the story of a girl who once had to fight an entire army of gods and monsters. It's not like she wanted to do this. It was her day off work and she just wanted to stay at home and play with her cats, but it was her cat that told her to do it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Introduction

Let me tell you the story of a girl who once had to fight an entire army of gods and monsters.

Now to be entirely clear, it's not like she wanted to do this. She had a perfectly decent job that she was quite happy with but it just so happened that this is what fate had intended for her. I'm quite sure the Gods of Fate found the whole situation absolutely hilarious, even though the girl failed to see the humor in having an entire army of gods and monsters trying to kill her. But then again the Gods of Fate have always had a very twisted sense of humor.

However it seems that I'm getting ahead of myself, because our story starts nearly twenty five years ago in Spain. It all started with a god who, like the girl, wanted nothing more than to be left alone.


	2. Prologue

_ 1989 - Seville, Spain _

 

A god was on the run.

Once there had been temples built in his name. Tens of Thousands had prayed to him. Offerings had been made, creatures had been sacrificed in the hope that he would answer. But all that was millennia ago. That world was now long gone and his followers were all dead. Now he was nothing more than a lowly history professor in a University in Spain and being hunted for what he used to be.

He looked unlike any god a common person would imagine. He was Mediterranean in origin. He was short, barely crossing five foot three and slightly overweight which made him look like over-sized teddy bear. He also had a small beard and a bald patch in the middle of his head and since Gods never aged, he was stuck with this appearance for the rest of eternity, if he had that long to live. He had always wondered why his followers had thought that this form was suitable for him and had always looked at those Greek gods with some jealousy since they all looked like they had stepped off the pages of some fashion magazine.

As he ran he remembered the other of his pantheon. Over the centuries he had seen all of them fall, killed and harvested for the well of energy that they had within them. After all, all gods were made of pure energy. It was said that a wellspring from even the weakest of gods could feed another god or any other supernatural creature for decades if not centuries. The energy could also be bottled and sold for a good price on the black market. It was even coveted by some humans, at least those who knew about it. Now after all this time it seemed that it was his turn. The fact that he had managed to survive this long had been nothing short of a miracle given that even in his heyday he hadn't been the strongest of his pantheon.

He had ever imagined a day when he would have no followers left, no one who prayed to him. That all his so called power only came from the number of believers he had and their faith in him. That without them he was almost nothing, still capable of astonishing feats that impress any human but he knew that that was but a fraction of what he used to be. After all those years of thinking that he was immortal and omnipotent, it had all come down to nothing more than a bitter struggle for survival and the will to survive was a terrible thing. It made one do things one would never do otherwise and the god had done monstrous things just to remain alive. Even though he did not believe in fate maybe all his past deeds were finally catching up to him.

  
  


* * *

  
  


He was running down a street away from his pursuers. He turned a corner into an alleyway and promptly disappeared.

He reappeared in the middle of a room on another continent. There was only a small popping sound that announced his arrival. He looked around and made sure the house was empty. He thought maybe he had made it. Maybe he had managed to give them the slip. But he didn't want to take a chance. He wanted to get out of the place as soon as possible. He tried to move but to his shock found that he couldn't.

" _ That's not possible,"  _ he panicked and thought to himself, _ "There's no way they could have tracked me this quickly. _ "

But before he could figure a way out of his situation, there were several pops around him and three men and two women, all heavily armed, were standing in front of him. From the group, a tall man with an air of authority stepped forward. The god recognized him as the leader of the group.

The tall man was slender and muscular but not bulky. There was something vaguely feminine about him which made his gender seem fluid. He moved with the grace and precision of a natural predator. After all his entire existence had been about nothing more than the hunt. He had sharp angular features, a long nose, and his hair grew down the back of his neck making it look like he had a mane. When he walked he looked more like a wolf than a man which is exactly what he was on the inside.

He was Amarok, the wolf. The oldest of the hunters.

"How?" the god asked.

"Been doing this for thousands of years, Marduk. I'm not without skill." The wolf replied to the god.

The god knew there was nowhere to run.

"So this is it Marduk, end of the line." The man vocalized the god's thoughts, almost as if he could read them which in that particular situation weren't difficult to perceive.

Amarok smiled. His smile was unnaturally wide. He had far too many sharp teeth. Marduk wasn't sure whether the wolf wanted to greet him or eat him. He figured it was probably both.

The god began sweating profusely. He had been on the run for days trying to evade the Hunters. He had managed to take down a few of them but he no longer possessed the strength he once had. He had made one final attempt to teleport to his final safe house but even that move had been an utter failure.

The house he was standing in was mostly empty. It had some bare necessities like a bed, some clothes and a few cooking utensils. It wasn't a very large house either. Marduk had never intended to stay there. It was far too plain for his tastes.

They were standing in the middle of the living room which had nothing except a small table and two chairs. There was a window behind Marduk but he had no intention of going out through that. In another life he would have survived the twenty storey drop without a scratch but not any more. He knew he wouldn't die from the fall but he would be nothing more than a pile of flesh and broken bones for days while he healed, not that he had days, and he couldn't see how that would improve his situation.

"Amarok, I already gave you everything and everyone I had. You promised you would let me be." Marduk pleaded.

"I did let you be, Marduk" said the wolf, "I promised to leave you alone for three centuries. Those got over nearly two decades ago, if nothing else you should be thanking me for my generosity."

"Please let me go. I'll find you another god, I'm sure I can. Just let me live." The short man begged.

"Marduk, stop humiliating yourself. At least have the decency to die with some dignity." Amarok scolded him.

"But I don't want to die, I want to live. Please, just give me a little more time."

"You want more time, fine I'll give you ten minutes to pray. See if someone answers" the wolf said and all of his companions chuckled.

Marduk looked desperate enough to actually try it.

"It's quite a conundrum isn't it, Marduk, who does a God pray to?" Amarok asked.

Marduk was lost. He had no answer.

"Alright, this was fun." Amarok said as one of his people handed him a knife Rambo would have been proud of. He also took out a strange cylindrical device from his backpack. It looked like some kind of a container.

"You two, hold him down." Amarok instructed as he approached Marduk, "I promise I'll make it quick, for old time's sake."

Marduk finally accepted the fact that this was indeed the end and he braced himself for what was to come. But just as Amarok was about to strike he remembered something. Something that just might save his skin, possibly get the wolf off his back forever.

"Wait, wait, wait, I..., I have something" the god shouted just as Amarok raised his knife.

Amarok stopped at the sudden outburst.

"Boss, can we get this over with, he's got nothing," one of the female hunters said.

"There's no rush, Inanna, let the man talk. Let's see what he has to offer," Amarok replied, "Alright Marduk, tell me what you got."

Amarok was ready to humor the god.

Marduk swallowed and smiled weakly, glad at the short stay in his execution.

"You'll like this Amarok, this is the motherlode."

"Enough with the sales pitch, Marduk, just tell me what you've got. It's not like you have all day."

"Yeah, okay... so... last week I was with Apollo he had come down to the university for a guest lecture. The bastard still looks great. You should have seen all the girls and boys throwing themselves at him. I bet he even slept with a few of them before he left."

Amarok knew that Marduk had never been able conceal his jealousy over the preternatural good looks of the Olympians. He just smiled and motioned the god to continue.

"Anyways, the next day over lunch, he and I got to talking about the old days and how we were spending our time now and you won't believe what he does now." Marduk paused.

"Are you waiting for some dramatic music to play?" Amarok was beginning to sound irritated.

Marduk looked around, leaned in and whispered, "He works at the Nursery, Amarok, and he told told me there's going to be a harvest soon."

Listening to those words there was nothing but silence in the room which Amarok finally broke with a chuckle.

"Marduk, you could have told me that you wanted to sell me the sun and the moon and I would have believed that, but this is a little much even for you."

"No, no, it's the truth. Apollo said he'd seen it with his own eyes. The first harvest in over seven hundred years."

Amarok had always been good at spotting lies, it was one of his gifts and he knew the god in front of him wasn't lying.

"What kind of a timeline are we talking about?" he asked.

"Apollo said no more than twenty five years. He said that's the time frame the harvesting machines gave him."

Amarok pulled up a chair and sat down in front of Marduk who was still on his knees.

"So what exactly are you offering, are you saying you can get us the Fruit?"

"I don't know, I guess so." Marduk sounded unsure of himself. He hadn't really thought this through and Amarok could see that. He decided to help out the god.

"Alright Marduk, let's say I'm interested. But I can't go just on here say. I need something more concrete, so you are going to get a job at The Nursery. You are a god after all, you definitely fill the basic criteria and when you do, you will tell us when the actual harvest happens and the delivery routes. You do that and you won't see us ever again."

Inanna stepped forward.

"Boss you can't be serious about this. He's bluffing. There's no way he has information like that."

"I don't think he would lie about something this big. Even he isn't that stupid."

Marduk just grinned and nodded his head in agreement.

"And remember, if you've somehow managed to lie to me, Marduk. That all of this was just a ruse to get an extension of life, you better find a way to get off this fucking planet because once I find you I'm going to rip your beating heart out of your chest and feed on it and I don't mean that metaphorically."

Marduk began sweating again and just nodded.

"Then it's a deal. You'll be our inside man and in return we let you live and maybe even give you a share in the heist. Deal?"

"Deal."

Amarok extended his hand and Marduk nervously shook it.

Amarok got up off the chair and put the knife and the container back where they belonged and motioned his crew to leave and they all disappeared one by one.

"See you around, partner." Amarok said and then he too promptly disappeared leaving behind a trembling god still on his knees.

Marduk slowly got back on his feet, still trembling. He couldn't believe his luck. Now all he had to do was find a new job. He had no intentions of disappointing the wolf.

  
  


* * *

 

 

 

_ Twenty five years later _

 

_ 2014, Somewhere in North America _

 

The road was empty except for a small green Mini. The sole occupant of the car seemed relaxed on the outside but in reality was more nervous than the day the Titans had almost gotten loose on the planet.

He was one of the four couriers that had set out from The Nursery with identical packages to deliver. In order to get his mind off the job he was keeping himself occupied by browsing a whole host of websites on the multitude of devices that filled the passenger seat of his car. He had three tablets, two phones and even a tiny laptop. He really enjoyed travelling and communicating, after all he was Hermes, god of travel and communication. He loved this age he was living in, with all its various means of communication, Cell phones, Landlines, walkie talkies, radio and the internet.

The internet was his favorite.

He especially loved social media. Facebook, twitter, tumblr and all those other methods these humans had come up with to talk to each other. It didn't matter whether people believed in him or not, just connecting to the internet was enough to make him feel strong. It wasn't the same strength he got from people's belief but this was a decent enough alternative. In fact every god of communication from any pantheon was glad that they were still around to live in this miraculous age. But it also meant he was easily distracted and sometimes at the absolute wrong moment.

He had started his journey in Ukraine, where one of the entrances to The Nursery was. There were four of them who had been chosen for the job. Each one had received their packages. None of them knew which one had the real one, but the energy signature of the package was so unique that it hadn't taken Hermes long to figure out that he was the one who had unknowingly drawn the short straw.

Soon after he had taken a Pathway, which had gotten him to France and two more Pathways later he had reached this secluded highway somewhere in Pennsylvania.

Each courier would take a different route and eventually reach the same location in northern Canada where they would hand over their packages to the older gods who would then put it in the Vault for safekeeping.

So far his mission had been fairly uneventful but isn't that how all disasters began, uneventfully. 

  
  


After a few miles down the road he started to feel hungry. Even though being connected to the internet did charge him up but it was like a trickle flow, he still needed food. Even though in the old days he could go without food, pretty much forever, since the faith that people had in him was enough to give him strength. But now that that was gone, every alternate source of energy became important. He began to check his phone to see if there were any diners in the area and a diner popped up on the map not too far away from his current location. He admired his luck that even on such a secluded highway he could find  a diner and thought that maybe he should have been the God of luck. If the Goddess of luck would have heard his thought she vehemently disagreed.

The diner was exactly where the map on his phone had indicated. It always amused him when the tiny dot on the map on his phone turned into a real place and how it almost never looked the way he imagined it to be. In this case it turned out to be a lot smaller than he had imagined. But then again there was no need to have a big diner on such a secluded road, in fact he was still surprised to have found one at all.

He parked his car and walked in and was immediately greeted by the wonderful aroma of sausages, bacon and eggs. He stomach and his nose immediately overrode his brain and he completely failed to notice anything wrong with the place. Like the fact that the waitress that walked out of the kitchen looked shockingly like the waitress that just went into the kitchen or the couple sitting at the far end of the diner were just moving their lips but no voice actually came out and that even though they kept eating their meal the plate never seemed to get empty. Then again no one on Mt. Olympus ever said, oh look at Hermes, he's such a smart guy. But being the messenger for the gods he wasn't expected to be smart, just fast and that everyone agreed upon especially the ladies. All the ladies agreed that Hermes was really fast. Hermes never knew if he should take that as a compliment or not.

He sat down at one of the empty tables of which there were a few. The diner wasn't particularly remarkable. It looked like any of those American diners he had seen in movies and TV shows. He sat there enjoying the view when a waitress approached to take his order. He ordered some eggs, sausages and hash browns.

As he sat there waiting for his meal to arrive a few more customers entered the diner and filled up the other seats. A more observant man would have noticed the guns that were hidden under their jackets but sadly Hermes wasn't one of them and also because his was completely occupied by the whatsapp conversation that was going on on his cellphone. He had recently joined this new group of older gods. They all loved to bitch and moan about their current lives. It was really entertaining.

Soon after his meal arrived and he got busy eating and never noticed the tall man entering the diner until he decided to sit opposite him.

"Hey there, enjoying your sausages. They tell me it's the house speciality." Amarok said as he sat down.

Hermes looked up and immediately froze with fear.

"H...h...hey, Mad dog" Hermes stammered.

The wolf smiled coldly back at the Olympian.

"You know, there was time, when if someone called me that I would actually rip their head off but I've been going to shrink lately to learn some anger management. Now a days I just shoot people. It far less messy. Have you seen the amount of blood that sprays when you rip someone's head off. It's a nightmare trying to clean it up."

Hermes had no idea if the wolf was serious or joking or if he was really going to rip his head off, so he just ended up laughing weakly.

"Not that my mental health is of any great importance. How are you doing, Hermes. Haven't seen you since the Napoleonic wars?"

Hermes had finally managed to get his wits about him.

"I'm.... fine," he replied slowly, "What do you want, Amarok?"

"What I want is, firstly, for you to take your shoes off. Wouldn't want you to be running off now, would we."

Hermes looked a little indecisive.

"Hermy, I know you're fast. But in the time that it takes you to get up to full speed, I would have already slashed open your throat and I don't feel like getting violent just yet. So what do you say you do the smart thing for once and not the heroic one." Amarok said as he put his hands on the table and extended his claws.

"Fine" Hermes complied and kicked off his boots.

"And they say you're not smart."

"I've done what you asked. Now, what do you want, Amarok? If you're planning to kill me, then you should know that I am protected by The Council. You better be prepared to face some serious repercussions." The greek god knew threatening the wolf would have almost no effect but there was no harm in trying.

The Council that Hermes was talking about was the new council of old gods. It had been formed to provide protection to the fallen gods from the hunters. They now had enough members to be a detriment to the hunters.

The wolf just chuckled.

"Relax Hermes, not here to kill you. We wouldn't want to anger the Council now would we. This is just a straightforward stick-up."

"You want my car, sure go ahead." Hermes joked.

Amarok looked outside the window at the Mini.

"It does look nice. Don't know if I'll fit in it but I think I'll take it anyways. However that's not why I'm here."

Hermes had been hoping that maybe the wolf was just here to kill him, that he had spotted him on the road and intercepted him. But sadly that wasn't the case. Somehow Amarok had found out about the package.

Amarok saw the confusion on Hermes's face which slowly gave way to a frightening realization which the wolf shortly confirmed.

"Yes, Hermes. I know why you're here and I know what you're carrying and I would very much like to have it. Right now."

"You can't be serious" Hermes sounded horrified at the prospect.

"Of course I am."

"But it's of no use to you. You don't even know how to open it." Hermes paused and reconsidered his words, "Wait, do you know how to open it?"

"It doesn't matter. All that matters is that I want it and you're going hand it over to me. Now enough chit chat, where is it?"

"Sorry man, you got the wrong courier. I don't have it and I know because I checked the package. Your intel was wrong." Hermes lied desperately trying to figure a way out of his situation.

"Are you talking about the three others that are carrying similar parcels? Yeah, I know they don't have it, so just hand it over and you can walk away."

Amarok smiled wide, displaying his extremely sharp canines and extended his arm. At that moment Hermes’ phone rang.

“May I?” Hermes asked as he reached for his phone.

“Sure.”

"It’s Dionysus. I'm going to put this on the speaker” saying that he put the phone on speaker and put it on the table.

The Wolf and his crew could hear the voice from the other end.

“Hi man, what's going on? Everything alright?” Hermes inquired of his friend.

“Hey Herby, just wanted to tell you. I did it. I just delivered the package in record time. The older ones were really impressed. So you take it easy. Take the scenic route. No one's expecting you back anytime soon.”

“Sounds great Di, thanks for the heads up. Bye.”

Hermes cut the phone call and smiled at the Wolf.

The wolf looked confused. How could his intel be wrong? This had been in the works for decades.

"I told you, you got the wrong guy. Can I go now?" Hermes smiled and got up to leave. He was about to pick up his shoes when the wolf stopped him.

"Not yet," the wolf still sounded suspicious, "Thoth trace the signal, tell me where that call came from." Amarok told one of his guys. He looked North African in origin.

The man closed his eyes for a second and then smiled.

"It came from nowhere. The Greek faked it."

"Nice try, Hermes, but you're not the only god of communication in the world. Have you met Thoth, he's from Egypt."

Thoth waved at a crestfallen Hermes.

"Enough games. Now hand it over before I start to lose my patience."

But before Hermes could say or do anything a Humvee came to a screeching halt outside the diner and five armed men and women stormed the diner.

"Nobody fucking move." One of them shouted, in a heavy Scottish accent, as they began to fire indiscriminately in the air.

The man who had just shouted the order was well over six feet. He was well built and had long flowing red hair. He really liked his hair and took great care of it. Once, at a party, a marketing executive had even offered him a shampoo commercial which he had rather rudely refused. He told the marketing executive that he was Arawn, god of the Underworld, not some underwear model, right before he threw him off the balcony. But he still liked being complimented about his hair.

Hermes looked up and saw that the bullets never did any damage to the roof whatsoever not that the guys with the guns had noticed anything. But it was then that he finally realised that the entire place was nothing more than an illusion.

"You, give me all the money you've got. Cam, find the Greek flying monkey." the man, who we can say was the leader of the group, instructed his junior as he screamed at the waitress to hand him the money from the tiller.

To his surprise the waitress barely batted an eyelid. She calmly checked her notepad as if someone had placed an order and then walked back into the kitchen.

Amarok just shook his head.

"Keep an eye on Hermes." He instructed Thoth quietly before he mumbled "Fucking cheap skate." under his breath and turned in his seat to face these uninvited guests.

"Hey Arawn, do you mind keeping it down? Some of us are trying to eat here."

The Celtic god pretended to be surprised upon seeing the wolf there.

"Amarok, what the fuck you doing here?"

"Trying to conduct some business."

At that moment Arawn spotted Hermes.

"Hey you, where's the package." The Celt shouted as he pointed his gun at the Greek.

Amarok finally got up and faced the Celtic god.

"I believe I was here first. You can have him once I'm done with him."

"Fuck you, you little mongrel. You may have beaten me that one time but I'm prepared now. I've got the Armour of Anubis. Nothing can touch me. In fact we all have it." The god bragged as he opened his shirt and showed off a shiny Armour that he was wearing underneath.

"Wait a second, so you're telling me that you're all wearing the Armour of Anubis. Didn't know Anubis was manufacturing these in bulk. Mind if I test it?"

Then without waiting for permission the wolf took out his gun and shot one of Arawn's lieutenants in the chest. The god that Amarok shot fell to floor as everyone else immediately pointed their guns at him.

Now let me be clear, bullets can't actually kill a God. They can be injured but even a weak god can heal relatively fast. But bullets were useful to slow them down, especially ones that have been magically treated. In any case, if a god is shot in the head or the heart, their bodies freeze up till they can heal, so they look no more different from a normal dead body. Well, a normal dead body that has part of its brains blown off.

"Hey, calm down, you said it was impervious. Maybe you should ask for a refund." The wolf joked.

"I'm going to kill that Chinese witch. She tricked me."

"You bought an ancient Egyptian artifact in China?" Amarok rolled his eyes.

"Screw you, now hand him over. It doesn't matter whether these things work or not. There's still five of us against two of you." Arawn shouted as he pointed his gun at Amarok's head.

"You may have miscounted." Amarok said and before anyone could react he whispered one more word and then hit the floor.

 

"Artemis."

 

Thoth pulled Hermes to the ground as well.

A millisecond after later the window shattered as a sniper opened fire and half of Arawn's head exploded. The god stumbled around refusing to die. His finger squeezed the trigger and he indiscriminately opened fire. Everyone hit the ground and the whole diner erupted into chaos.

The Celtic god ended up shooting most of his own crew, or at least the ones who were too slow to hit the ground in time.

A firefight broke out between the two group of hunters but Arawn had been seriously mistaken about the number of people in Amarok's crew. There was one more, the one who had constructed the Diner and she finally joined the battle. All the remaining customers and staff in the diner turned and attacked the rival crew like rabid dogs. As they were constructed entirely out of thin air, bullets did nothing to slow them down. But the God that had created them could only hold them together for so long before they lost cohesion. But with the rival crew busy shooting at the constructs, Amarok and his crew could pick them off relatively easily. The sniper took out two more and Amarok dispatched the remaining ones.

But in the middle of all this Hermes picked the right moment to make his move. While Thoth was busy returning fire, he teleported the package to a safe location. He wished that he had the ability to teleport himself but he sadly couldn't, not without his shoes. He knew he needed to get out of there and he wouldn't get another chance. He was trapped under a table with Thoth crouching next to him. He immediately pushed the Egyptian out into the passageway and tried to make run for the kitchen door, while picking up his shoes from the floor, but Thoth managed to turn and shot Hermes in the leg.

As Hermes fell he played his final card. He pulled out his cell phone, mumbled a few words under his breathe and hit the call button. His mind separated from his body and he dived into the cellular networks, leaving his physical form behind. Sensing their master’s departure the shoes promptly disappeared too.   
  


 

A few minutes later it was all over. Amarok stood over the prone bodies of the rival crew. They weren't dead, but the magically treated bullets would ensure that the healing process would take a fairly long time. At least a day or two. Arawn wouldn't be able to do anything right for at least a month while his brain grew back. Amarok would have killed the whole lot but he didn't have the time.

Just as he was surveying the destruction, a young woman came running into the diner. She was medium height and looked like she was in her mid twenties, when in fact she was thousands of years old. One of the benefits of being a god. She had curly black hair and dark eyes on an oval face. She could have been called good looking by any standards. She was dressed in a black combat gear and was carrying a Barrett M82A1 sniper rifle that was almost as tall as her. Once, a long time back, she had been called The Archer but now she had replaced the bow and arrow for something more suitable to the current times.

Artemis had had a falling out with the rest of her pantheon, many of the older gods that had gotten disillusioned after their religions had faded away. She had ended up joining Amarok's crew. She felt she could at least put her skills to use and live a comfortable life.

"Anyone left standing." Artemis asked.

"Nope" Amarok replied.

"What do you want to do with them, boss?"

"Just dump their bodies in the forest and get back to work. Which reminds me. Thoth, where is that Greek errand boy?" Amarok asked his communications expert.

Thoth, who was standing next to the lifeless body of the greek god, remained silent. Amarok turned around and saw the body and realized that something had gone terribly wrong.

"What the fuck happened?" He asked furiously as he and Artemis walked towards Thoth.

"I don't know. I shot him in the leg as he was trying to run away but now he's not moving at all."

"That's because he managed to separate him consciousness from his physical self. He's probably jumped into the cellular networks." Artemis explained. After all she did belong to the same pantheon as Hermes.

"He can do that?" Thoth asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, you can't?"

"No, I've never tried it. I should though, seems like a useful trick." Thoth shook his head and rambled on.

"Well, that's just great. I'm assuming the package is gone too." Amarok interrupted.

They all looked around but could find anything that might have resembled the parcel.

"Looks like it. Even his shoes are gone."  Thoth said.

"Twenty five years of planning and all gone to shit because of that Celtic moron and his crew." Artemis said angrily and then promptly walked over and shot one of the rival gods in the head again, purely out of spite.

The wolf knew now wasn't the time to lose his temper. They needed a plan. They needed to get on top of things before they got completely out of hand. So he just sat there thinking when the waitress, in the now empty diner, turned and asked him, "What are you thinking, boss?"

The waitress, in reality, was Niorn, a lesser known goddess of dreams and illusion. She was the one who had constructed the diner. She had blonde hair and was slightly taller than Artemis.

"I'm thinking that's twenty five years of planning down the fucking drain. That fat fuck Marduk sold us out."

"I knew it. We should have harvested that little weasel twenty five years ago." Artemis said.

"And we will, slowly and painfully, but we still have a job to finish and it just got a hell of a lot more complicated than before. When that flying monkey doesn't show up at the Vault Entrance in the next couple of hours The Council is going to send out a search party and once they figure out what's really happened that search party will also start looking for the package too. Can we locate the package in the next few hours?” The Wolf asked his team even though he knew the answer.

Everyone around him just shook their heads.

“At least a couple of days” Niorn replied.

“Fine, then we need to figure out a way to prevent them from finding it before we do," Amarok said as he turned towards his communications expert, "Thoth, can you block any outgoing magical signals from this place but make sure we are excluded from it?”

"I guess so. I can set up three hundred mile dampening field, that's the extent of my abilities. It wouldn't block out the signal completely but it will make it very difficult to locate anything. Even ordinary communications will be patchy at best.”

“Alright, do that. Also can you track Hermes?” Amarok asked Thoth.

"Absolutely. Right now he's going to be completely scattered. But the minute he pulls himself together, which could take him a day or two, I'll have a lock him." Thoth replied.

"Alright, so that gives us a little more time. Since you know him so well Artemis, where do you think he could have hidden the parcel?"

"I'm assuming not too far. He won't make it jump continents since he has to eventually deliver it somewhere in Canada. He likes to hide a needle in a stack of needles, if you know what I mean."

The wolf thought about this for a while.

"Hmm, alright so you and Niorn start going through any post office or parcel sorting centre around here. Once he's pulled himself together that's where he'll go. Also if you spot anyone from the Council search party, just walk away. Until we have a lock on the package I don't want any unnecessary confrontations. Understood? Also keep a few guys on standby just in case we get into trouble.”

Everyone nodded their heads in compliance.

"What about you, boss" Niorn asked, who was glad she could spend more time with Artemis. They both got along quite well.

"I'm going to go look for his shoes. I think I know where they might be. He's going to come for those too, if he needs to travel fast. Arty call Nergal, tell him to get in touch with me.”

Artemis suddenly looked a little concerned. In fact the entire team did.

“Do we really need him, Amarok?” The Archer asked.

“Look, I know he's unstable. But he's the only one we know who's even remotely capable of tapping into what's in that package. Now I know we were going to do it once we were all safe and sound but we don't have that luxury anymore. If we have to do this on the fly I would rather have him around. Besides, if he gets out of control I'll deal with him personally, alright.”

Artemis nodded.

"Sounds like we have a plan." Niorn said.

"Good, let's clean up and get back on the road. Niorn, get rid of the bodies of these idiots," Amarok said as he pointed towards the rival hunters.

"What about him?" Thoth asked as he pointed towards Hermes.

"Will he need his body?" The wolf asked Artemis.

"Eventually, sure. For now he can take over any electronic communication device or even an animal but not a human. So yeah, once everything is over he would want his body back, why?" 

"Let's make his life a little more miserable. Thoth, bury him twenty feet deep. That should keep the flying monkey busy when he gets back, that is if he survives all if this." The wolf grinned and replied.

The rest of his crew laughed and got to work.   
Roughly an hour later they were done. Niorn dissolved the diner and they all hit the road heading off on their individual missions.


	3. Don't Panic

It had been a few hours since the Hunters had headed out to look for the lost parcel. At that moment Kira Jones was a mere hundred miles away in a small town in Pennsylvania at her job, doing what she did best, sorting parcels.

Kira had been born and brought up in that small town and she had lived there with her parents until a few years back when her parents had suddenly decided to move to Miami, leaving her to fend for herself. But then she’d been gainfully employed since her late teens so she had no real problems in fending for herself even though she did miss their company at times. She would have happily settled for the company of a girlfriend as well but sadly those weren’t easy to come by either. However that was mostly due to a lack of trying since she hadn’t been social for sometime now and she hated going to pubs. She found them really noisy. But she was sure that if she did try she could meet someone.

She had once thought of setting up her profile on an online dating site and she even had a small description of herself worked out.

 

_“Kira Jones. Good looking.”_

She had wondered if it might be a little vain in describing herself as that but she figured that she lived in an age of self promotion so why not and so she had continued,

_“Average height brunette heading into my late twenties. Part time Graphic artist, Full time parcel sorter.”_

She had always stopped whenever she got around to mentioning her job. Maybe being a parcel sorter just wasn’t glamorous enough.

She had been at her job for almost seven years and even though she found the job exhausting and wished at times that she could just get away from it and become a full time artist, Kira was a realist. Her job gave her amazing medical insurance and she didn’t mind the regular pay cheques either. She was also in shockingly good physical condition for someone who had never seen the inside of a gym and she could attribute that to her job as well. After all sorting parcels at break neck speed for eight to ten hours a day would be enough to get anyone into shape.

She was also proud of the fact the she was one of the best parcel sorters in the entire hub. But little did she know that that was exactly what was going to change her life. It was just that after her life had changed she often wondered if it was all for the best.

 

But I’m once again getting ahead of myself, so let's get back to our heroine’s day.

 

Kira’s day had been going just fine when her boss showed up.

“Ms. Jones?” Her boss said as he interrupted her usual dance with the parcels.

Kira stopped and looked up.

“Yes boss?” She asked wondering if she'd done something wrong or maybe she was about to be informed of another busy schedule where she would have to pull double shifts. Her boss saw the worried look on her face and smiled to put her at ease.

“Nothing to worry about, Kira, it's just that I wanted you to take over Eddie’s place.”

“What did he do now?” Kira asked frustratedly.

Eddie was the newest addition to the workforce and not a particularly good one a that. To put it very bluntly, the man was a klutz. It was a miracle that most days he could walk down the street without running into a stationary object.

“Nothing too bad. He's just managed to jam his sorting machine thrice in the last hour.”

Kira just shook her head in disbelief.

“Do this and you can take Friday off.” her boss offered.

The offer was extremely tempting. It was Wednesday, one more day of work and she could get a three day weekend. She couldn't remember the last time she had those many days off. Kira’s face lit up and she accepted the offer. She took over from Eddie and managed to get the work back on schedule in no time. She had been so busy thinking about what she was going to do with her long weekend that before she knew it the horn blared signalling the end of her shift, but she saw that there one final pile of parcels to sort through. She could have left it for whomsoever was going to come in on the next shift but it was just a few packages and she figured why not.

 

If only she'd walked away.

 

Kira sorted through the final pile and turned around to leave when her knee banged into a small piece of metal jutting out from the side of the sorting machine. She yelped in pain and sat down to rub her knee. As she sat there trying to massage her knee through her jeans she noticed something that had fallen under the machine. She reached in and pulled it out. To her surprise it was a small parcel. She wondered how it had managed to get that far under the machine but she figured she would just put it in the unsorted pile.

She stood up, still rubbing her knee, and decided to take a better look at the parcel. It was pretty tiny, about half the size of a cell phone but cubical, and it had no address on it. It was unlike any other parcels they usually got. The package was wrapped in some sort of ornate black paper instead of the usual brown wrapping paper and the wrapping had been done so well that she couldn't even find the openings. The paper itself had some kind of intricate patterning on it. It looked like tiny black and gold leaves but somehow the leaves seemed to move as if there was a wind blowing across the surface of the small black box. For a second she got lost staring at the box. It's ever changing leaf pattern was mesmerizing and unbeknownst to her some of those leaves casually made their way up her fingers and disappeared, but she snapped herself out of her trance as was beginning to get late. She put the package on the unclassified pile and left for home.

If she would have turned around a few seconds later she would have noticed that the tiny parcel had decided to leave with her.

 

* * *

  

It was well past nine in the night by the time Kira got back home. She had recently moved into a new apartment away from her annoying roommates, now that she could afford a place on her own. She lived there with her cat Coco, who looked like a smaller version of a Norwegian forest cat. The first thing she did after she put down her bag was to give him his evening meal. Coco stared at his meal, with the look of a food critic about to judge a contestant’s dish at Master Chef. Kira had often wondered if he could speak what might he say about his food or anything in general. But Coco, having finally decided that the meal was worthy of him, was happy just purring his approval.

After she’d fed the cat she made her way towards her laptop but then stopped herself. She would usually spend at least an hour or three chatting with her friends on various social media sites who would talk about the latest TV shows they were all obsessing over but she had an early shift tomorrow. Besides she would have three whole days over the weekend to chat with her friends, work on her art and even finish one odd fan fiction that she'd been writing. So she quickly made dinner, took a shower and hit the sack. In all of this she never once noticed that lying in her backpack was the tiny parcel that she had supposedly left back at her workplace.

 

* * *

 

 

The next day the sun rose without much fanfare and so did Kira. Her hand reached out to shut off the alarm but instead she ended up hitting what felt like a tiny little box sitting on her bedside table. She turned around sleepily but there was nothing there. She figured she wasn’t fully awake and it just her mind messing with her. On her second attempt she was able to turn off the alarm and she got out of bed. She had a double shift today so she needed to get a move on things. She took a shower, got dressed and sat down to eat her breakfast. Kira was busy reading something on her phone when she decided she needed some pepper with her boiled eggs. She reached out and grabbed the bottle and tried to sprinkle some pepper but noticed that she'd instead grabbed a tiny little, brown paper wrapped parcel. She didn't know what to make of it. She stared at it wondering who it belonged to, when the wrapping on the parcel decided to transform in front of her eyes. The brown paper disappeared and instead the box was covered in black paper with black and golden leaves on it. It looked exactly like the parcel she’d found last night.

Kira screamed and threw the box which ended up in a pile of utensils near the kitchen sink. Kira didn’t know how else to react. She wasn’t sure what was happening. Things don’t just magically transform, this wasn’t one of her stories. She sat there staring at the place where the box had landed, half expecting some giant monster to appear out of her kitchen sink. She just prayed that it wouldn’t turn out to be a giant spider. She hated spiders, regardless of size. But as the seconds ticked by, nothing happened. Kira finally summoned up some courage and decided to go take a closer look at the box but to her surprise there was nothing there. The box had vanished. Kira hunted for it in the utensils but there was nothing there. She even checked under the sink but was met with the same results. She stood there in her kitchen wondering what to do next, but she was getting late for work. Her brain did what brains are meant to do, explain the impossible. It told her that she had just imagined the whole thing and Kira more than willing to believe that and so even though still a little shaken she decided to leave for work.

 

* * *

 

 

Pretty soon she was back to sorting parcels and managed to forget all about her strange morning experience. The day progressed as usual and it wasn’t until after lunch that she began to notice a strange and worrying pattern.

She was back at her station handling packages, having just gotten back from finishing her meal, when she she noticed the small parcel in her hand. It looked like any other brown paper wrapped parcel but she felt like she’d already sent it up the processing line and it also looked a lot like the vanishing parcel she'd found in her house. She held it in her hand for a while waiting for it to transform and reveal its true self, but after holding it for well over a minute nothing happened. Eventually she just shook off the feeling of déjà vu and sent the parcel up the line. But twenty minutes later she found herself handling a similar sized parcel again. This time she sorted it without thinking, in fact she never even noticed it. But by the fifth time she had sorted a similar package she knew something was very wrong, possibly with her head.

Was she being stalked by a parcel?

She decided to take a small break, go get a glass of water or something. At the water cooler as she was drinking water she noticed out of the corner of her eye, something on the table next to the cooler. She leaned over to look at it and there was it was, a tiny little parcel. She almost dropped the glass of water she was holding but instead ended up spilling some water on the t-shirt. As she was wiping it she looked up and saw that the parcel was gone. By now she was halfway certain that she was going insane.

She returned a few minutes later, still a little nervous. She kept looking around just to make sure she wasn't being followed by that little box of evil. She got back to work, but in less than five minutes she had another similar looking parcel in her hands.

Kira wasn’t sure how to react upon seeing it. Her brain was stuck somewhere between a scream and laughing like an insane person but instead she decided to behave a little rationally. She decided to read the address and memorize it, to ensure that she wasn’t dealing with anything screwy. She read the address and sent the parcel on it’s way. Fifteen minutes later she was sure she had a the exact same box in her hands, however it had a different address. But it was shockingly similar to the previous one and the fifty others that she'd handled over the course of the day. She felt like she was beginning to lose her mind, but she knew it wasn’t possible. She handled similar looking parcels all day. This one had a different address from the previous ones. She slowly picked it up, as if it might just explode and sent it up the chain.

But it kept happening.

What Kira wasn’t aware off was that binding spells, such as the one that had she accidentally triggered when she had found the parcel the night before, were semi sentient and extremely temperamental. They liked hanging around whomsoever they are bound to but also loved to keep modifying their appearance in order to camouflage themselves but also to just fuck around with their temporary owners.

The next time it happened Kira decided to keep the parcel aside just so she could be sure that it wasn't the same parcel that she'd been sorting over and over again. Even though she wasn’t sure what she would do if her theory was correct. If no other parcel arrived then she was in fact being stalked by a parcel, which logically could only mean one thing. She had lost her mind and that wasn’t a good diagnosis. So she desperately waited for the next similar looking parcel to arrive. But the next one didn’t show up for almost an hour. Her brain began to panic. It tried to tell her things to make her feel better. That maybe this was the last of the similar looking parcels. Maybe some company had decided to courier hundreds of tiny little trinkets individually and that's what she’d been dealing with. There was a perfectly rational explanation to all of this. It still wasn’t helping her calm down. But no sooner than her brain tried to explain the situation rationally to her that another similar looking parcel arrived.

Kira heaved a sigh of relief.

The parcel sorter picked up the parcel and turned towards her right to compare it with the one she’d kept previously but it had inexplicably vanished. Kira put down the package in her hand and began looking for the other one. She looked everywhere but couldn’t find it. After a few minutes of looking she gave up and just took this similar looking parcel and sent it up the line.  

Kira put the sorting machine on hold for a second, just to try and calm herself down. She was trying to remember if there was a history of dementia in her family but even then, she was too young for this to be happening to her. She was starting to form a vague smile on her face, as if her brain had given up trying to make sense of anything. She turned around to switch on the machine and found the previous parcel sitting exactly where she’d kept it before it had decided to vanish. At that point her brain finally gave up being rational. Kira obeyed her brain, screamed loudly and jumped back.

A few seconds later her floor manager came running.

“What, what’s wrong, Kira?” He asked as he came running.

Kira was still trying to calm herself down.

“That... that parcel, it's stalking me.” Kira turned towards her boss and blurted as she pointed her finger at her station.

Her boss looked at her wondering what she was going on about.

“What parcel, there's nothing there. Your station is clear.”

Kira turned around and saw that the little box of evil was indeed gone. She looked everywhere. She looked under the station, she looked behind the station. When she couldn't spot it, she began to rummage through the unsorted parcels. It had to be there. The bloody thing hadn’t left her alone all day, where the fuck was it. She was beginning to lose it. Her brain was off on it’s own trip and was beginning to find the entire situation quite funny, which was causing Kira to laugh nervously as she looked for the parcel.

“It was there, believe me, it was there. It's been after after me all day.” She was starting to sound hysterical.

Kira knew what she was saying wasn't making a lot of sense but there was no other way to explain it. She didn't know how her boss would react. He was probably going to think she'd lost her mind and fire her and she really didn't want to lose her job. But when she looked back at him he was just smiling at her.

“It's alright Kira, it happens to all of us. It's the job, the routine eventually gets to you. It got to me too. One day I got back home and I thought my entire house was one big parcel all wrapped in brown paper with a giant sticker on the roof which had the address written on it. I went in and it was the same thing inside. All of my furniture, my utensils, even my dog were all neatly wrapped up and tagged, but you know what the strangest this was?”

“What?” Kira asked. This was not how she’d imagined this conversation would go. She’d expected her boss to tell her she was being silly, not reinforce her belief in imaginary stalking parcels.

“None of them were addressed to me. Even my own house wasn't addressed to me.”

“Then who was it addressed to?” Kira knew this was a very strange conversation but nonetheless she was curious.

“I don’t know, I was having a nervous breakdown. The doctor said it was stress and overwork. I spent a year at a nice little nut house and all the time the only things I could think off were, why wasn't my own house addressed to me and who would wrap a dog. But there was wonderful nurse there who took good care of me and they had great pudding. I eventually had to leave the nurse behind but I took the pudding recipe with me.”

“I don't wanna have a nervous breakdown, I'm too young for that.”

Her boss chuckled.

“That's what I said too. But don't worry, we have a great in-house psychiatrist. I'll setup a meeting for you for Monday. For now just switch your station and once you get out of here go get a drink or something.”

That sounded like a very good suggestion. After that her brain decided to shut down and just focus on the job. She was still getting pestered by the tiny box but she just didn’t pay any attention to it. She figured that if she just refused to acknowledge it, it would just go away. But that only works on preachers on the street offering to save your eternal soul not on a binding spell.

 

* * *

 

 

Her shift finally ended and Kira decided to drive to the closest pub she could find. She had full intentions of getting blind drunk. She was still jittery and kept looking around for the parcel. She also frequently checked her rear-view mirror just to make sure that the little box of evil wasn't chasing after her and she was relieved to find that it wasn’t. The little box, instead, was happily riding along with her under her seat.

Kira reached the pub closest to her office and was about to go in when she decided that she’d rather get drunk at home. Then she wouldn’t have to worry about how she was going to get home. Kira, if nothing else, was practical. So she turned around and decided to pick up a bottle of vodka from a nearby liquor store, and that was the best decision she could have taken because inside the pub were three hunters who had just entered the town looking for the same parcel that was now haunting her.

 

* * *

 

 

“That's weird.” said the Egyptian God as he tightened another knob on the device he was holding.

“What's weird?” asked Niorun who was sitting at the table with him waiting for her date to come back with their drinks.

Thoth was sitting at an adjoining table with a small electronic contraption in his hands, which looked like a homing device of sorts but home made. He was still tinkering with it.

“The needle just spiked.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that cursed parcel was really close, but I can't be sure. I was getting random signals last night too. There's too much interference.”

“Which you caused.” said the Goddess of Illusion with a smile.

“Which the boss wanted,” He answered defensively, “Look, it's here, it's almost definitely here. But I can’t be sure until I do a proper location spell, which I can't because the boss said so. So, till then we’re stuck with this,” said Thoth as he began to shake the homing device in frustrations, “this human technological peice of junk.”

“Don’t get frustrated Thoth, it’s only been a day. Besides we know where it’s hiding. This town has the largest parcel sorting centre within a hundred square miles, where else is it going to be.” said Artemis as she put down the drinks.

“So what's the plan?” Thoth asked.

The Archer turned towards her date waiting to hear the plan, who was busy finishing her drink.

The funny thing is that normal alcohol has almost no effect on a god, but all gods drank because it was a good way to blend in.

“Oh yes, the plan,” said Niorun as she put her drink down, “well it's simple enough. We go there tonight as the security team, disguises courtesy of me. We look for the parcel using that little gizmo of yours and hopefully nothing goes wrong this time.”

The other two gods nodded in agreement and went back to finishing their drinks which was exactly what Kira was doing back at her apartment.

 

* * *

 

 

The next morning Kira woke up to her brain hurling abuses at her.  She had gone through an entire bottle of vodka and had then proceeded to pass out the floor of her bedroom after her brain had just given up trying to make its way to the bed which her body did not appreciate and was now aching all over.

She managed dragged herself to the kitchen and make a cup of coffee, a very large cup of coffee. Eventually she settled for a large pot of coffee and she sat on her sofa in the drawing room happily drinking directly from the pot. A little while later her brain had managed to reach some kind of normalcy and her head had stopped throbbing from the pain. She opened up her laptop and tried to focus her eyes on the screen to see if she had any new emails or messages of any kind and she had a fair few so she sat there reading and answering them having completely forgotten about the the previous day and that cursed parcel.

All this time her cat, Coco, sat next to her staring at her intently. He looked like he had something on his mind that he wanted to say but was waiting for the appropriate moment.

Kira was busy writing an email when her hand reached out for the coffee pot and she couldn’t find it. She put down the closed her laptop and looked at the centre table in front of her trying to find the pot and right there in front of her was it, the nightmare from the day before.

The Parcel.

It happily sat there in all its tiny glory. It was no longer disguised in brown paper but was in its original black leafy wrapping.

Kira’s stared at it so hard it looked like her eyes were about to pop out of their sockets. She didn’t know how to react until her brain reached the only thing it could find that seemed to fit the situation.

“Jumpin’ Jehosaphat” shouted Kira having no idea what it meant but it seemed really appropriate at the moment.

She began to back away from the parcel. She began to climb on the back of the sofa trying to find a way out of the room. She had climbed so high up the sofa that there was nothing left to climb and she lost her balance and fell behind the sofa.

As she lay there terrified, with her brain trying to figure out her next move, she saw her cat jump up on the back of the sofa looking down at her. He sat there licking his paws staring at her, with a sympathetic but slightly bemused look on his face. He wanted to say something that would make the girl lying on the floor feel better. He cocked his head sideways and finally knew exactly what he needed to say. Then in a fairly commanding voice, which had a Greek accent, he said,

“Don't panic.”


	4. Breakfast at Kira's

Around the time Kira’s cat spoke to her and Kira was convinced that she’d finally lost her mind, the hunters were at her workplace searching for the exact same thing that was driving Kira mad and they were nowhere close to locating it. The hunters had moved through the sorting centre unnoticed thanks to Niorun providing them with varying disguises but that didn’t mean much at the moment since they couldn’t find their object of interest.

“It’s not here.” Thoth said. As he dejectedly put down his home made tracker for the fiftieth time.

“You’ve been saying that all night, Thoth. If it’s not here then where the fuck is it?” Artemis looked like she was inches away from losing her patience and shooting something. At that moment she would have been perfectly happy shooting the Egyptian.

“Calm down, Arty. He’s trying his level best. You know electronics are not very good at tracking down magic.” Niorun said as she stepped up to The Archer and smiled at her, trying to distract her.

“Look it’s not my fault. This thing’s been bouncing all over the place and I can’t figure out why.”

“So what, you want to go tell that to the boss. That you can’t do a simple enough job and talking about the boss, where the fuck is he. Why isn’t he here?” Artemis said.

“Now, now, no need to get him involved. He called up and said he's working on a backup plan in case things go sideways here. Besides he gave us a job and I’m sure we can pull it off. Thoth think, why would the package be bouncing everywhere. There has to be a reason.” Niorun said to Thoth.

To any ordinary human being passing by at that moment, they would just look like thee workers taking a small coffee break. Thoth was quiet for a while as Artemis began to pace around in frustration while Niorun just sat down calmly waiting for inspiration to strike and a few seconds later it did. Thoth’s face suddenly lit up as he understood the mistake in his approach.

“Holy fuck, I am an idiot.” Thoth said as he slapped his forehead.

“I could have told you that.” Artemis mumbled under her breath but loud enough to be heard by everyone.

Thoth shot her a nasty look and then went back to explaining his idiocy.

“There’s only one explanation. The parcel is attached to someone, someone that works here and it’s following that person around.”

“But how is that possible, isn’t it bound to Hermes.” Artemis asked.

“Yes, but someone with enough knowledge or strength can trigger an override.”

“So we're looking for a human who can do magic, wonderful.” Artemis grumbled.

“Not necessarily. It could even be an accident, it’s been known to happen.”

“Alright, but that still doesn’t get us anywhere close to finding that damned parcel.”

“Actually it does help us. If someone triggered a spell in these premises we can see it on the CCTV footage. Magic always interferes with electronic signals.”

“But wouldn’t the parcel be doing that anyways.” Niorun asked.

“Yes, but a spell would cause a lot more.” Thoth remarked, “Just let me access the CCTV footage. It should have happened in the last couple of days.”

His partners nodded. Thoth took out a tablet and concentrated on it and pretty soon he could stream all the CCTV footage stored in the Sorting centre onto his tablet. Being a God of Communication did have it’s advantages. He could hack into any human system without breaking a sweat, after all human encryption was meant to stop hackers not gods.

As he sped through the footage, they could see that Niorun was right, the entire footage of the past couple of days was riddled with glitches because of the parcel. But Thoth had been right about the spell causing some extreme amount of interference and it took him barely a minute to find the incident. He could see a young woman bending down and reaching under her station to retrieve a small package and then the entire footage was suddenly filled with static for a few seconds.

“There, that’s it.” he said triumphantly.

“Are you sure?” Artemis asked.

“Absolutely.”

He sped through it some more to see if he could get a better look at the woman. As he sped through the next day he and the other hunters began to notice her erratic behaviour.

“What’s wrong with her?” The Archer asked, but as she turned to look at the Thoth she saw the look on Niorun’s face and realized that the blonde goddess already knew the answer.

“She accidently triggered the spell. The package must be screwing around with her like a usual binding spell and she doesn’t know what to do. She probably thinks she’s losing her mind.” Niorun chuckled, “But it doesn’t matter how she did it. We know that it’s with her. Thoth find her address from their system. Let’s go pay the young parcel sorter a visit.”

 

* * *

 

“Oh, this is fucking great, now Coco’s talking to me. It's official, I've lost my mind.” Kira said as she picked herself up off the floor.

The cat seemed to think about that statement for a minute.

“Yes, let’s go with that. You’ve lost your mind.” The cat said.

“Alright... so what do you want Coco? I got you some some tuna yesterday, you want that?”

The cat rolled it’s eyes.

“To begin with, I’m not Coco. I’m called Hermes.”

“Hermes?” Kira stopped and thought about it, “isn't that the name of a Greek god? My cat’s a Greek god?”

“No, your cat is still your cat, I’m just temporarily taking up residence in your cat.”

“Why?” Kira was certain she was losing her mind, but even by those standards this conversation was little out there.

“Well.... I lost my body along the way.”

“That's not good. You’ve lost your body and I’m losing my mind.”

“OK, I don’t think this approach is working. Kira, I need you to come with me, your life's in danger.”

“What, Why?”

“Because of that.” Hermes pointed towards the parcel.

“Well, then take the damned box. I don’t want it.”

“That's the thing, I can’t take it. It’s bound to you. You seem to have accidentally triggered a binding spell and I can't reverse it without my body.”

“How, it’s not like I know magic. Wait, are you telling me I can do magic?” Kira’s eyes lit up at the prospect.

“Yes, well... not exactly. You have potential, but then one in every fifty thousand has potential. It doesn’t mean anything without proper training, lots and lots of training. But that’s not the point.” The cat was beginning to sound impatient. This was a ticking clock situation and he didn’t know how much time was left on the clock.

“This some kind of a test, right? That’s how these things work. You’re here to take me to some kind of a magic school.” By that point Kira was starting to sound a little mad.

“Kira, concentrate. This isn’t Harry Potter. You are in serious danger. There are people who are going to come looking for that parcel and they will kill you to get it. We need to go, now.”

“This is sounding like the plot of a really cliched action movie.”

The cat thought about for a second.

“Yes it is and do you know what happens to the person who doesn’t listen.”

“What?” Kira asked out of curiosity.

“They die.”

“Alright, that’s it. I don't need my cat threatening me. You need to stop talking and I need more coffee And some breakfast. Then I’m going to call my boss and ask him to set up an appointment with the company shrink. Maybe I can even go the same mental asylum that he went to. He did say they had a cute nurse there. I could live with that and I don’t mind pudding either.”

Kira began to make her way to the kitchen to make herself another pot of even stronger coffee. She figured maybe she should just starting eating the stuff, perhaps that would help.

“Kira...” Hermes started.

“Not listening.” Kira started to hum some random song to try and block out her cat’s voice.

But she had barely taken a few steps when suddenly shadows began to gather near her main door and then something stepped out of it. It looked like a weird cross between a raccoon and a fox. It also looked old ,mangy and possibly rabid, but the creature was huge at almost six feet in height, which gave off a “don’t fuck with me I'm insane” vibe.

It stood near the door for a while, looking ravenous and drooling on the floor. Every few seconds it would flicker and change its form a little bit, it's tail would grow shorter or its ears would get bigger, as if it couldn't decide what it wanted to be or maybe it just didn't care anymore. It didn’t seem to notice Kira or the cat possibly because it didn't have very good eyesight. Instead it put it’s nose up in the air and sniffed, trying to find the scent of something specific.

By now Kira was starting to realise that this wasn't just a figment of her imagination, maybe all this was actually happening. She slowly stepped closer to her cat who had climbed back on the table and stood in front of the parcel.

“What the fuck is that?” She whispered not wanting to attract the creatures attention.

“It's called a Yokai, more specifically an Obake. It's a shapeshifter.”

“It doesn't look right.”

“That's because it's hungry. It's probably been hungry for decades and that's driven it insane.”

“So it's going to eat us. I really don't want to be eaten.”

“No, it's not interested in us, we are not the kind of food it’s looking for. It's the parcel, more specifically what's inside it.”

“Then just give it the parcel. Problem solved”

The cat stared at her.

“Are you insane. That would be like using a nuclear bomb to play fetch with a rabid dog. If that thing bites into it, it won't just kill itself and us, the release of energy will easily level this entire town if not more.”

Kira slowly stepped away from the box.

“What the fuck is in that parcel?”

“We don't have time for that, let's deal with the Obake first.”

The Obake in the meantime had began to hone in on the parcel and was now stepping directly in towards them. It paused for a few seconds trying to focus it’s weak eyes and then it lunged. Hermes stepped forward and chanted something under it’s breath and the Obake hit an invisible wall that had come up between it and it’s target. It was furious. It started to claw at the invisible wall that Hermes had put up.

“What did you do?” Kira asked.

“It’s a shield, but I don't know how long I’ll be able to hold it. I’m not very strong without my body.”

Kira could already see the strain on her cat’s face as the Obake started to push itself against the shield. Then it stopped and took a step back. It stared at the cat for a while and began to emit a low pitched growl which progressively grew louder. Pretty soon everything in the house began to shake and even though the shield was somehow protecting them Kira was starting to feel the effects of that sound. She felt like her brain was rattling inside her skull and if it continued her head might explode. She clasped her hands over her ears and screamed at her cat, trying to make her voice heard over the growling of the Obake.

“Do something.”

“I’m trying my best.” Her cat screamed back.

The growling continued. Kira could see her entire apartment coming apart at the seams. It the shaking continued she wasn’t sure how long her house would remain standing. She wondered what her neighbours must be thinking. Within seconds Kira was on her knees. The sound was now piercing her very bones. She turned to her left and saw her cat desperately holding his ground. She’s never seen her cat sweat before.

But then Kira heard a loud whine and everything went quiet. The next instant the Obake’s head exploded. Kira never even heard the shot.

Kira turned around and saw three soldiers standing in the kitchen. The one who had taken the shot was a pale skinned, blonde haired woman, well built and taller than Kira. Next to her was an even taller, black, heavy set man who stood well over six feet. He had a pair of ornate spears tied to his back and whole string of metal knives in his belt. The final was a much shorter woman with distinctly Mongolian features. She was slender and moved with the grace of a viper. She had short cropped flaming red hair or at least that’s what they looked like at first glance. But upon closer viewing Kira realized that they weren’t hair but actual flames. She had a tiny scar under her left eye and if someone looked closely one could see flames dancing inside the scar. It seemed like the woman’s entire body was made of fire and her outer skin was just a sheath to prevent the fire from escaping.

They all wore black combat gear and were heavily armed. The short Mongolian woman looked like she was in command.

“Secure the house. Make sure no other strays get through. Charl throw one of those memory bombs that Tez made. We can't have the neighbors calling the cops or anyone else. Make sure you call Tez and tell him we'll need to do a proper memory wipe here later.” She commanded her subordinates.

Kira turned around to look at the dead shapeshifter and saw there was no blood, instead the body had slowly started to disintegrate. The blonde woman was looking around trying to spot someone when the cat spoke.

“Hey Charl, I’m here.”

The tall woman turned around and looked at the cat in surprise.

“Hermes, what the fuck, man?”

“I think you have some explaining to do, Hermes?” Said the Mongolian woman as she stepped up to Coco.

“Hey Od, It’s kind of a long story, ” then the cat paused, “actually no, it’s a pretty short one. I got ambushed by The Wolf and his team. I got away with the parcel but I lost my body and now I’m here in this cat.”

“Amarok, how the fuck did he know about the delivery schedule?” The blonde asked.

“I don’t know, Charl. The only thing I can come up with is that we’ve got a mole on the inside.”

“So where’s the Wolf now.” Od asked.

“No idea, but he can’t be far.” The cat shrugged.

“Alright, screw this. Let’s get out of here. The hunters aren’t the only ones we've got to worry about. That thing is attracting every stray hungry spirit on the whole fucking continent. It’s like an all you can eat buffet and everyone wants a bite.”

Od turned towards the black man who was standing near the window.

“Ogun, open a portal. Let's get this over with.”

But just as Ogun was about to make his move, Hermes interrupted.

“Yeah, there might be a small issue with that plan.”

The three gods turned towards him, waiting for him to explain. Hermes pointed towards Kira, who was still busy looking at the disintegrating body of the Obake.

“What’s the human got to do with this?” Od asked.

“The package is bound to her. She accidently triggered a binding spell. Why do you think I'm in her cat.” Hermes explained sheepishly.

“Oh this is just peachy.” Charl said frustratedly.

“What, I can go through the portal.” Kira said enthusiastically. Even though just a few moments ago some ancient Japanese spirit had tried to make her head explode, she was getting really excited by all this. She'd always wanted to have an adventure.

“Humans can’t travel through portals. The bodies aren't strong enough. The wild energies of the portal will tear you apart without proper shielding.” The tall black man explained.

“What do you mean human. Aren’t you human?”

“Maybe some introductions are in order.” Hermes interjected,“ We're are part of an organisation of old gods called The Council.”

“Wait, what? Old gods. You're all gods. How many of you are there?” This was all a little too much for Kira. She wasn't even sure if she believed in God and now she was surrounded by four of them and possibly others who wanted to kill her.

“How many, well as many religions you lot keep coming up with. What do think happens to us after you stop praying to us? We can't just hang around twiddling our thumbs waiting for you lot to come back. We've got to find some kind of gainful employment.” Charl replied, she sounded a little angry. It wasn't a topic any of them liked thinking about.

“I was assigned with the job of making sure that that package got to its destination safely and as we've established I screwed up. These three are members of The Council security team. That’s Charl, well Andarta, but she likes Charl. She’s from what used to be called Gaul. She's a Goddess of War.” Hermes continued.

The African stepped forward.

“Ogun Onire, God of Iron. I’m belong to the Yoruba from the region you call West Africa.” He proclaimed proudly.

“Alright, enough introductions. We’ve got to rethink the situation.” The Mongolian goddess interrupted. She didn't seem the sort for idle chitchat, especially not in a life and death situation.

“Are they all gods of war.” Kira whispered to her cat.

“Mostly. Well you're not going to go looking for the God of Harvest and Wine when you're building a security team. Oh and that's Od Ana, she’s a fire God. Mongolian.” Hermes whispered to Kira.

“She’s cute.” Kira replied.

The goddess looked back at her smiled. She looked as she wanted to reply to the compliment but now wasn’t the time. She turned her attention towards the cat.

“Hermes, who all are with the wolf?”

“Not entirely sure. I mean, Thoth is definitely there. But I don’t know who else.”

“What do you mean you don’t know, you got ambushed. You didn’t see them?” Charl asked.

“I saw Thoth, but the others I’m not so sure. I know the skill set. One is a sharp shooter and the other can cast illusions but I never saw their faces.”

“That’s too wide a net to cast, but at least we know what we’re up against.”

 

* * *

 

Just as Hermes was telling Od and her team about the hunters, they were being watched by the very people they were talking about from the building on the other side of the street. Thoth had taken over the eyes of a bunch of birds and insects in the area including a small cockroach in Kira’s kitchen. He was also hooked into every CCTV camera he could locate. Artemis and Niorun could see everything on a small tablet.

“This is great, the A-team is here.” Artemis remarked.

“What do you want to do, do we go in?” Thoth asked.

“Not yet. Let me talk to the boss first. See if he has a plan.” Niorun replied.

The building they were in was partially empty. They had taken up residence in an apartment on the second floor which was the same floor as Kira’s apartment. It gave them a good line of sight on their targets. The owners of the apartment were currently unconscious, lying in their own bedroom closet. Artemis had tied them up just to be on the safe side, even though she knew that the potion she'd used would knock them out a better part of the day.

As Thoth sat on the floor managing his multiple viewpoints, Artemis got busy readying her various weapons. Niorun walked a slight distance as she called Amarok. The call didn’t last long.

“I told Amarok what's going on, looks like he has a plan.”

“Oh yeah, mind sharing it with the rest of the class.” Artemis asked with a coy smile.

“He says we need to separate them. Get Hermes and the human away from the a team.”

“Any idea on how we do that.” Thoth asked.

“I might a have plan. But first we need to blanket the entire place. We don't need to attract any undue attention.” She said looking at the Egyptian.

“Wait, if you blanket the place, we won't be able to follow them. You two will have to here to hold the spell.” Artemis interjected.

“That's fine, we don't need to follow them. Amarok said he knows exactly where they'll be headed once they get separated. Well just make sure that we hold the council team here so they can't follow them. Then we get out of here before they call for additional backup.”

“Ok, but isn't it curious that it's just the three of them. Given what's at stake I would have expected at least a dozen of them out there.” Artemis said.

“Hmm good point, but that's their problem. The lesser number we have to deal with the better for us.” Thoth replied.

“Alright, let's get this done.” Niorun jumped into the conversation. They had to get a move on things. She didn't want their opposition calling in reinforcements.

Thoth nodded and they both closed their eyes. They opened their eyes a few moments later. Nothing had changed but they seemed satisfied with the result.

“Done.” Thoth said.

“Alright now what?” Artemis asked.

“Well, you keep those pretty little guns of yours ready. I think I’m gonna go in and say hi.” Niorun replied with a smile.

 

* * *

 

“We’re going to have to move sooner or later. We can’t just hang around here forever, Od.” Ogun said as he peeked out of the window.

But when Ogun turned around he couldn't see his team mates, instead there was a nine foot tall Minotaur blocking his view. It was built like a rioded out body builder with eyes that glowed like coals on fire. It smiled a cocky little smile at the African and swung its massive hand and flung the god across the room. Ogun landed with a loud crash into Kira’s kitchen in huge explosion of cups and other utensils. Then the Minotaur turned around to face the remaining gods and mortal in the room.

Both Charl and Od opened fire as Kira hid behind them with Coco, but the bullets hardly had any effect upon the beast.

“Is that a Minotaur?” Kira asked her cat.

“I don’t think so. No one’s seen a Minotaur in ages. I think they went extinct.” Hermes replied.

“It’s not a Minotaur. It’s a fucking illusion. They’ve got a dream master with them and a powerful one at that.” Od interrupted as she and Charl continued wasting bullets on it.

Kira peeked out from behind them and saw a scene of utter devastation. She could barely recognize her living room. The Minotaur had already trampled over her television, her laptop and had broken her sofa in two. Whatever was remaining was being blown to bits in a hail of gunfire. She was going to have a very hard time explaining all of this to her landlord or the cops.

The Minotaur tried to punch the Celtic goddess but she managed grab it’s massive fist but the force of the incoming fist pushed her across the room tearing up the flooring. At that moment Ogun, who was behind the Minotaur, pulled out one of his spears and moved it in an arc, slicing the beast in half. Od was right, it was nothing more than an illusion since no blood poured from its wound. But the beast didn’t disintegrate as they had expected. Instead it’s feet remained on the ground and it’s upper half floated in the air as it curiously looked at it’s missing centre and then it slowly began to reassemble itself.

“We need to go. That thing is way more stronger than I’d expected.” Ogun said as everyone made their way towards the door. Kira picked up her backpack and tried to move towards the parcel which was lying on the floor of the living room.

“Leave it. It will follow you.” Hermes shouted as he ran out of the apartment weaving in between everyone’s legs.

As everyone ran out into the hallway, Kira turned around to get a final look at the Minotaur, she saw that it was still trying to reassemble itself. It calmly looked up, smiled and winked at her and then promptly disappeared.

Kira ran up to Od.

“That thing just disappeared.”

“I’m not surprised, the hunters just want us out on the street.”

“Why don’t we just pull the fire alarm and run out with everyone else?”

Od looked at her, surprised at the mortal’s presence of mind.

“I’ve seen too many TV shows.” Kira grinned and said.

“Actually that’s not a bad idea, but it won’t work. Don’t you think with this much commotion someone would have called the cops by now.”

“Yeah?”

“There won’t be any cops coming. They’ve cast a spell on the entire area. It’s called blanketing. The idea is cast an illusion on every human in the area which makes them think that everything is alright. They won't see or hear anything out of the ordinary. It’s common practice, we do it too. We could blow up the entire building and no one would notice. The only reason it's not affecting you is because of your proximity to us. The spell doesn't work on gods. We're going to have to figure a way out ourselves.”

“So what do you want to do?” Hermes asked the fire goddess.

“Let's go for the simplest solution. Kira, do you have a car?”

“Yeah, it's parked out in the front.” Kira replied.

“Good, we throw some smoke grenades and make run for it.”

“That doesn't sound like a great plan. Don't you guys know some magic.”

“Not a lot. We're gods of war, we fight.” Charl replied with a shrug.

“I could set the whole place on fire but that's not going to help the situation, is it. Don't worry Kira, we'll make sure nothing happens to you.” Od smiled and said as she saw the worried look on Kira's face. Kira reluctantly agreed to the plan, it wasn’t as if she wanted to stick around and wait for the Minotaur to show up again.

But just as they turned the corner in the hallway to approach the staircase that's exactly what they ended up facing. The Minotaur came charging at them from the other end of the corridor.

“Go, go, go.” Screamed Charl as she and her compatriots opened fire.

Kira picked up the cat and ran down the stairs and she was followed by the other gods who were trying their best to slow down the homicidal apparition chasing them.

Eventually they got till the front entrance. Ogun was trying his best to hold off the apparition but it seemed like a losing battle. Now even his spear wasn't having any effect on the beast. Charl lobbed a few smoke grenades out of the front entrance. It was enough to completely obscure visibility.

“Let's go, now.” The Celtic goddess shouted at everyone else.

“All of you get to the car, I'll hold off this thing.” Ogun shouted back.

Just as they were about to step out, one of Kira's neighbors entered the building.

“Oh, hello Kira, already leaving for work?” Asked the middle aged man as he walked checking the messages on his phone. He didn't seem to notice the the giant Minotaur ,the heavily armed gods standing next to her or the fact that he'd walked in through a wall of smoke.

“Yes Mr. Collins, early shift. See you later.” Kira replied as she ran out of the building.

The other two gods followed her and ran out into the smoke. Luckily Kira had had enough presence of mind to take the house and car keys when she'd run out of her apartment. Even though there was gunfire coming from the opposite building, the smoke was dense enough for them to get to the car safely.

Kira got in the driver’s seat with the cat next to her. Od and Charl got in the back seat and they drove off. Even though a few bullets did manage to hit the rear of the vehicle, no one was injured. They all heaved a sigh of relief. Kira was worried about the god they had left behind. Even thinking that thought made her head spin. To think that till a few hours ago she barely believed in God and now she was surrounded by three of them, even though one of them was hiding inside her cat.

“You think Ogun will be alright?” Kira asked the two gods in the back seat.

“I’m sure they’ll all be fine. We’re not interested in them.” Od replied with a smile and slowly faded out of existence. Kira almost crashed the car from this sudden turn of events.

“Oh fuck, we got played.” The cat remarked.

Niorun's plan had worked. Kira and Hermes had never noticed that when the Minotaur had attacked them in the corridor, the gods had been too busy fighting off the beast to follow them. They had never even made it down the stairs. It had all been an illusion. Kira looked in the rearview mirror and saw the three gods making their way out of the building and waving at them only to be met by a hail of gunfire coming from the opposite building. They all ran back in. It seemed that even the smoke had been nothing more than an illusion since that was gone too.

“We need to go back for them.” Kira said as she began to slow down the car.

“No we can't risk it. We need to deliver the parcel, that’s our job. Just keep driving.” Hermes replied, sounding slightly defeated.

Kira agreed and put her foot on the accelerator. They sped away leaving the warring gods behind them.

“I never even got to have any breakfast.” Kira grumbled as her stomach growled in agreement.


	5. The Shop around the corner

“I just wanted to spend my time drawing art and chatting with my friends. Having my house destroyed by a Minotaur and almost being killed by a shapeshifting raccoon dog isn't my idea of a fun weekend and it's all because of that stupid parcel.” Kira vented as she drove the car.

“I fully sympathize. Being stuck in a cat is not how I envisioned my mission turning out either. But here we are, there's nothing we can do about that now.” Hermes replied.

“Why don't I just slow down. I'm sure Od and the rest can catch up with us.”

“I highly doubt that. The entire place is completely covered in a interference spell that Thoth cast. I can sense it. No one is going to be able to locate us. Besides we can't risk running into another hungry spirit. I might not be able to hold off another one for a little while. It's best that we keep moving. Take a turn here.” Hermes explained and instructed Kira.

Kira followed his instructions without too much thought, her mind was occupied with more pressing matters.

“Can't we just go look for your body and then you can be on your way.”

“I don't exactly know where my body is.” The cat replied sheepishly, “I'm just hoping the Wolf hasn't eaten it. It's such a pain trying to build a new body.”

“Just what the fuck is that thing, that's got everyone this excited. “ 

“To be honest I'm not entirely sure, all I know is that it's some kind of a power source.”

“Power source for what? “Kira asked. 

“For Gods, and don’t ask me why don’t I use it because I don’t know how. I think The Wolf and his team must have figured out a way to tap into it. But it's supposed to be highly unstable that's why we keep it in the vault where it's safe and away from someone desperate enough to make a rash decision.”

“For a god you don’t really know a lot.” Kira remarked.

“Look, I’m a messenger God, OK, I take stuff from point A to point B and right now I’m not even fulfilling that position very well. Knowledge and wisdom isn’t really my forte.” The cat replied grumpily.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to upset you.” Kira said softly.

“It's alright, it's not your fault. I screwed up.”

“So what's the plan now?”

“We do what Od had said, we make a run for The Vault. That's the best option we've got, the longer we hang around the more chances there are of attracting unwanted attention.”

“Alright, so where's this vault of yours.”

“The entrance is in a forest in Northern Canada.” Hermes answered.

“What the.... Northern Canada, that's days away, with all the things behind us we'll be dead by then.”

“Not necessarily. I have a way to travel faster.” The cat replied with a smile.

Kira looked at her cat, waiting for him to enlighten her.

“My shoes.”

“What?” Kira said.

“My shoes, you know the ones with the wings. You must have seen the illustrations.”

“Those are real.” She asked incredulously.

“Well, they don't have wings but the do help me move fast.”

“So where are they?”

“When I escaped from the wolf I told the to hide and they love to hide in trinket shops. I can sense them, they're close by. Just take a right turn up ahead.”

Kira followed her cat’s instructions. She was glad that there was finally some semblance of a plan showing up.

 

* * *

 

 

She followed his instructions and turned right into a narrower street. Kira realized she was in a unknown part of the town. The street was empty. It was still early and none of the shops had opened.

“Where to? There's nothing open here. “ Kira stated the obvious. 

“Just take that left turn up ahead. There's a small trinket shop there. I'd visited it before I got to you. It's run by an old woman she likes to open early.”

Kira nodded and began to make her way down the street. But as she drove she began to notice the shadows under the shops starting to get darker. She wanted to think that it was just her mind playing tricks but too many weird things had happened in past few days for her to ignore it. Kira saw that Hermes had noticed them too. She could see Coco's hair standing. She started to speed up but almost immediately came to a halt when she noticed a giant dog like creature blocking her path. She glanced to her and saw more oddly shaped creatures stepping out if the shadows. 

“What is that, another Obake?”

“No, but there are far too many animal spirits just wandering around. Abandoned and hungry. This thing is attracting every single one of them.” the cat said glancing at the parcel. 

“Do you want me to back away?”

“That won't help. We have to get the shoes. That's our only shot of getting to the vault.”

Kira was still inching forward but the spirits were slowly beginning to converge on the car.

“So what then?” she asked her cat. 

The cat climbed on top of the dash board. She noticed his eyes glowing as it dug it's claws into the dash. 

“Ram them.”

She looked at her cat as if it had last it's mind. 

“What?”

“If we don't get to the shoes we're dead. The Wolf will find us sooner or later. Our only chance of survival is getting out of the city and fast and to do that we need my shoes, so trust me and drive.”

“But... “

“Kira I'm going to use my last reserves and put up a shield it should be enough to get to the shop and get the shoes. They will be in the display. Once we get the shoes were home free. So just drive.”

“Alright.” said Kira as she put her foot in the gas pedal and she almost immediately hit the large dog like creature in front of her.

The remaining spirits took that as a declaration of war and instantly launched themselves at her car but they were all thrown back because of the shield surrounding the car. But they'd all been worked up into a frenzy and they kept throwing themselves at the car. Kira kept driving. 

“I'm sure my insurance doesn't cover this.” Kira mumbled as she plowed through the almost never-ending stream of angry animal spirits. Slowly but surely she managed to make her way towards the shop. She made the left turn and Hermes pointed at a shop near the end of that street.

“That small shop at the corner. Get to it and I'll build a path for us to the shop entrance. The shoes are in the display. We go in, grab them and get out.”

“You want me to steal them.”

“Would you rather stick around with a horde of angry spirits till someone makes a receipt.”

“Good point. Stealing it is.”

“Besides it's not technically stealing. They do belong to me.”

 

* * *

 

They finally reached the shop. It had a board outside which said ‘Needful Things’. Their car was still surrounded by mad and hungry spirits trying to claw their way to them. Kira stopped the car next to the shop. Hermes assured her that everything would be fine. He had enough strength left to get the job done. Kira opened the door and made a run for it. She could see the air folding inwards as the spirits tried you reach her. Even though she hadn't made any move to pick up the parcel from the car she could already feel it in her pocket and so could all the strange animals surrounding her. But the shield put up by Hermes was holding steady. Kira spotted a pair of small shoes made of China in the display and Hermes confirmed that those were the ones they were looking for. 

Kira opened the door of the shop. The owner was nowhere in sight. She ran in and made her way for the shoes. Hermes stopped at the door. She figured he was just holding the shield. But the cat sensed that something was wrong.

Just as Kira picked up the shoes the cat shouted.

“Stop.”

But it was already too late. Hermes was immediately pulled in and the door got locked. All the spirits were instantly thrown back and Kira realized that something had gone very wrong. Someone had anticipated their move and they'd walked into a trap. 

“Oh fuck” was all Hermes could come up with.

 

* * *

 

“What happened? Did you do that?” Kira asked as she put the shoes in her pocket.

“No. I think we just walked into a trap. The Wolf must have figured out that I was going to come here to collect the shoes.” If the cat could do a face palm now would have been a great time to do it.

“Who’s The Wolf?”

“He’s the one who leads the hunters that have been after us.”

“And he’s here?”

“I can’t think of any other explanation, even though, if he laid this trap, he should have been here to greet us. He’s not one to play around.”

“So what now?”

“I don’t know. Give me a moment to think.” the cat replied as he sat down on the floor.

Kira didn't know what else she could do so she decided to explore the shop they were now trapped in. 

The shop was old. The board hanging outside said established in 1949. Looking at all the stuff lying around Kira was sure that some of it might actually date back to that year. The shelves and tables in the shop looked old too just like the cracked paint on the walls. Kira wondered when was the last time the owner had thought of getting the shop repainted. But then looking at the state of the shop she wondered if the shop was visited regularly which would explain the owner's reluctance in spending any money on it’s repair and upkeep. There were a variety of old dolls and trinkets that lined the shelves. But there seemed to be more dolls than anything else. She figured the owner really liked dolls. She couldn't say the same about herself. She's always found them a little creepy especially those dead plastic eyes that always stared back at her in that unblinking unrelenting stare. Kira could see the shelves lined with a whole range of dolls. There were everything from variety of princesses with elaborate costumes to soldiers that looked ready to go to war and even some strange creatures and some that looked as if they belonged in a fevered dream. Some of those dolls were hanging from the ceiling swaying around, being moved by an invisible wind. As she looked at them, all the dolls seemed to be staring back at her with their plastic eyes and the intent behind those eyes seemed malevolent. They were beginning to creep her out, so she stopped looking at them and decided to explore the rest of the shop. She moved slightly deeper into the shop and looked in between the shelves to see what was at the back of the store but to her surprise she found that corridors that the shelves formed seemed to go on forever. The more she looked the more it seemed like an endless maze that was calling to her. She could hear a tiny voice in her head that told her how much fun it would be to go in and explore that maze and she was almost tempted to go in. 

“Hey, where do you think you’re going?” 

Kira stopped and turned towards the cat and found that she had almost entered the corridor maze without realising. It was as if she had been drawn to it by some invisible force and she couldn’t even remember taking those steps. She shook her head a little to clear it.

“I don’t know, I just wanted to take a look at what was inside the shop.” 

“You don’t sound sure.”

“I don’t know. I’m confused. You think it’s weird that the shop seems to go on forever.”

“What?” The cat finally got up off the floor and walked to her side and looked in the direction she was looking. 

It stood there for a second staring at the endless maze and then slowly began to back away. Kira immediately noticed the expression change on her cat’s face. She’d noticed that ever since Coco had gotten possessed by Hermes he’d gotten a lot more expressive than usual and she could make that something had gotten him really spooked.

“What’s wrong?”

“Not sure, but I think we could be facing a sorcerer. That’s most definitely magic. Tell you what let’s stay away from those corridors, OK?”

“OK” Kira shook her head in agreement.

They both stepped away from the corridors and back towards the windows from which they could still see all the hungry animal spirits trying to claw their way in and they were all staring at Kira.

“Look I want to try something.”

“What?” Kira looked at him curiously.

“I can’t do any complex magic without my body, but I know a few spells that I’ve learnt over the years. I think one of them might help us get out of here.”

Kira looked nonplussed.

“If you can’t do magic then what use are the spells?”

“Well, that's where you come in. We know that you are capable of magic, or you at least have a well spring of magical energy inside you. I think I can tap into it and do the spell through you.”

“So I’m a glorified battery.”

“Yes, Neo.” The cat grinned at Kira.

“Very funny, Morpheus. But seriously, you can do that. Run a spell through me?”

“I could try.” 

“OK, what do I do?”

“Nothing really, just sit down on the floor, I’ll climb on your lap and see if I can access your mind. If it works, great. If not then...”

“Then we’re fucked.” Kira finished the sentence.

“Pretty much.”

“So what spell do you have in mind?”

“It’s a spell that Phantasos taught me.”

“Who’s that?”

“Son of Hypnos, God of Illusion. I’m going to try and create copy of the parcel and try and draw away those spirits outside. If we can distract them then we can try and figure a way out.”

“Alright, that sounds good enough to me. Let’s do this.” Kira replied enthusiastically.

Kira sat down cross-legged and Coco climbed up into her lap.

“Try to keep your mind empty and I’ll do the rest.”

Kira nodded and closed her eyes. She could hear the cat mumbling something in a language she couldn’t understand. She just focused on keeping her mind blank. She had read somewhere that you should imagine a tiny flame in your mind and focus on that and forget everything else and that’s what she did.  It was hard though, given how her day had gone so far, and with all the creatures outside the shop growling and howling at them but slowly she felt all of it fade away and she was all alone with nothing but the tiny flame in her mind. She didn’t know if it was working or not since she couldn’t feel anything. But then she began to feel the presence of something else around her. Something in the darkness. She heard a faint laughter in the distance which began to grow louder and louder until it was a high pitched shrieking noise in her mind and it was coming from everywhere and then she felt something brush against her hand and she immediately jumped up, frightening her cat in the process.

“What the fuck?” Kira said as she stood up and began to furiously rub her hand and began looking around trying to see who was it that had touched her.

“What’s wrong, we were almost there?” Said Hermes.

“I don’t know but someone’s here, someone was in my head. I could hear him laugh and then something touched my hand.”

“Are you sure?” Hermes sounded concerned.

“Of course, I’m sure. I haven’t lost my mind as yet.”

“Stay right there, I’ll take a look around. Be alert.”

Hermes began to have a sneaking suspicion that he knew who was behind all this and he was desperately hoping it wasn’t who he thought it was. He walked around the shop trying to catch a glimpse of something. He climbed on top of a small glass counter and he immediately heard a sound. It sounded like the pitter patter of tiny feet. He ran to the edge of the counter and looked over and saw a small plastic doll looking up at him.

It smiled back at him. A gruesome smile that showed off its blood red teeth that matched it’s eyes.

In the meantime, Kira was still standing there looking around as well and she noticed that the shelf to her left which was full of dolls had the top shelf empty and then she too heard the sound of tiny feet running across the tiled floor. It came from behind her. She spun around and saw a doll standing in front of her. It was a little boy in a school uniform. It began to walk towards her. It’s gait was uneven since it’s feet were never meant to actually function as feet but whatever force controlled it, kept propelling it towards her. Kira began to back away and noticed that there were two more dolls on either side. They wore nice flowery dresses, with a pink ribbon around their waist. They would have made great gifts if it weren’t for the blood red teeth, the bloodshot eyes and the small knives they were holding. Hermes immediately came running towards her.

“What’s going on? Don’t tell me it’s another God, because I don’t think I like this one.” Kira asked as she and Hermes began to back away into the corridor. Hermes knew that that’s what the dolls wanted but they had nowhere else to go. The number of dolls surrounding them was growing by the second.

“No, it’s not a god. It’s something much worse.”

“What do we do?”

“Run.”

And they both ran into the endless maze.

 

* * *

 

No sooner had they set foot into the maze than they were lost. Kira turned around to see if the dolls were still following them but she could no longer see the entrance of the shop, just an endless corridor which connected to other endless corridors all composed of shelves which had a dizzying array of dolls, tens of thousands of them, of all shapes and sizes  sitting on them. Everytime Kira looked at them they looked back at her. Some of those stares were distinctly unfriendly but others looked as if they were crying for help but couldn't speak. There was a giant red neon sign floating in the air which read ‘WELCOME’. It intermittently flickered and ending up bathing all the corridors in an eerie red glow.

“What the fuck’s going on, what is this?” Kira asked. 

“This is what hell would be like. This is his collection of souls.” Hermes replied as they both slowly made their way through the maze. They didn't want to disturb any of the dolls, especially the ones that looked psychotic and there were a lot of those. 

“Who's he?”

“Nergal. No one's sure what he is now. He used to be a god, I think. But mostly he’s a sorcerer and a necromancer. He's been collecting and dissecting souls for centuries and when he's done with them he traps them in these dolls. Some say he's even harvested other gods to see how they work. Rumor is he want’s to understand how gods are constructed so he can make himself whole again. Basically he’s nuts. I hadn't thought the Wolf would be insane enough to hire him, but it makes sense. No one has more knowledge about gods and energy than Nergal and he's crazy enough to tap into the parcel.”

Just as they began to make their way down the corridor they heard a loud noise behind them. They both turned around and saw that all the dolls were starting to climb off the shelves. Once they were down they immediately charged at them and soon that charge turned into an avalanche. Kira and Hermes were so busy looking at what was happening behind them that they forgot that they were surrounded on all sides by these dolls and a few of them jumped off the shelves and directly on top of Kira. Kira screamed at the dolls began pulling her hair. 

They were all plastic dolls whose fingers had been melted off to form sharp claws which they were using to dig their way into Kira's head. Kira grabbed them both and threw them to the ground but was moments later attacked by more dolls.

Kira picked up Hermes and broke into a mad dash. They had no idea where they were going as long as they got away from the dolls but that didn't seem to be happening. All this time they could hear a insane laughter in the air. It was the same laugh that Kira had heard in her mind. Kira was kicking her way through a seemingly never ending stream of plastic and porcelain dolls. Some of them looked centuries old. Every time one of the old dolls broke she saw a faint blue wisp rise from the shattered pieces. She fought as hard as she could but eventually lost. Soon she was overwhelmed by the dolls who pinned her down. They had also grabbed hold of Coco, who was trying to claw his way free but plastic dolls don't feel pain.

Once the dolls had them pinned down they stopped attacking her instead they just ensured that she didn't move. Kira wondered what they would do next when she heard sounds. They sounded like shards of China being crushed against the floor. As if someone was walking on broken glass. She tried to raise her head to see where the sounds were coming from and almost wished she hadn't. The sight she saw she was sure would forever remain burnt in her memory for as long as she lived, which she figured wouldn't be long.

It was a doll. An old porcelain doll, no more than two feet in height and it looked like it was probably centuries old. The Doll looked like a cute little boy wearing a nice shirt with a bow tie and a pair of shorts with suspenders. It was broken and cracked all over and there seemed no explanation as to what was holding it together, but then through the cracks in the China, Kira could see flesh, stitched together with the porcelain holding it in place and it still bled. As the doll walked up to it she could see the trail of blood it left in its path. But it were the eyes that scared her the most. The eyes were perfectly normal human eyes except that they were stuck in head of a porcelain doll and whoever had plucked them out had forgotten to take the eyelids too, so they remained open indefinitely, always watching. The doll walked up to them, climbed on the top of Kira's chest and smiled. It's smiled revealed teeth similar to the other dolls except these were dripping with blood. The smile caused its entire face to crack and the shards jutted out in odd angles. The shattered face perfectly mirrored the psyche of the resident spirit in the doll, broken and twisted. 

This was Nergal.

 

* * *

 

 

“Hello, pretty. I'm sure you'll make a fine addition to my collection.” said the doll in a voice that shifted between a high and low pitch as if the vocal chords weren't properly functioning which they wouldn't be since they were stitched to the insides of a China clay doll.

Kira tried to struggle her way free but it was futile. It was more than just the dolls that was holding her down. It was the will that controlled the dolls and at that moment it was standing on her chest. The doll knelt down on her and she could feel it’s weight pressing down on her rib cage, it was lot a heavier that it looked. It came closer and smelled her.

“You’re strong, stronger than you know. I could use that.” Said Nergal as he removed a small scalpel from his pocket. But just as he was about to use it another voice spoke out from behind him. This was a voice that was familiar to the cat. It was the Wolf.

“We had a deal, Nergal. You get the parcel and you don’t kill any mortals. It attracts undue attention.” Said the wolf as he stood looking down at them. 

Nergal looked conflicted. There nothing in the universe he enjoyed more than skinning a fresh kill but the parcel was more important. His hand hovered over Kira for a lot longer than anyone had expected. It gave the Wolf pause as to whether he’d made the right decision to hire the doll but the doll finally pulled his hand away.

“As you said, Amarok. No killing of the mortals.” He said with a sickly smile as he backed off.

Slowly all the dolls backed away as well.

“Good. Now get all your dolls to start looking for the parcel. It won't be on her but it won't be far either. It's locked to her location.” Amarok ordered the doll. Nergal nodded and looked at the dolls which scattered in all directions looking for the elusive little box.

Amarok walked up to Kira and offered his hand. She reluctantly took it to help herself get up. The Wolf also picked up Hermes’ shoes that had fallen out of her pocket. Amarok pointed towards the left where there were a couple of chairs and a small table in the middle of a corridor with a spotlight shining on it. It looked like a set prepared for a stage play. As they both sat down, Hermes jumped up on the table and sat in the middle. The wolf smiled as he sat down and put the shoes in front of Hermes just to tempt him.

“This form suits you.” 

Hermes snarled back at him.

“Hey, keep your attitude to yourself. None of this would have happened if you would have just taken my offer.”

“And give the parcel to you and that insane monstrosity, go fuck yourself and what the heck are you doing working with that thing?” Replied Hermes.

“He’s none of your concern and he’ll do as he’s told. That parcel is too big a prize for him to break the deal.”

“Amarok, you can’t be serious about this. You have no idea what the parcel is capable of.”

“Actually, I know exactly what it’s capable of and the doll says he’s got a method of filtering the energy. Besides I’ve got no interest of using it. I just want to be the dealer. It could set me and my team up for centuries. But before that I still need to find it, don’t I and that’s where you come in.” Amarok said as he looked towards the parcel sorter who was sitting there feeling a little left out.

“What?” Kira was busy trying to see how many places the dolls had scratched.

“The parcel’s linked to you so we’ll have to come to some kind of an arrangement.” Amarok replied.

“What kind of arrangement?” Kira asked trepidatiously.

“Nothing complicated. You come with us till we figure out a way to separate the parcel from you and once that happens you can go home. I’ll personally guarantee your safety.” 

“No, thank you.”

The wolf was quiet for a second.

“Ok, how about I sweeten the deal. How would you like to have fifty thousand dollars?”

“What?” Both Kira and her cat spoke simultaneously.

“I'm assuming you like money, don't you?”

Kira thought about it. That much money could really change her life.

“Sure” she replied slowly.

“So how about it. You come with me. We'll figure out a way to separate the parcel from you and then you get paid.”

“Kira, you can't be seriously considering this. They can't be trusted. They're hunters, murderers.”

“That has nothing to do with trust,” The wolf growled, “I've been around since before your lot first blinked into existence and I've never broken my word. Besides it's her call.”

“You're serious about this.” Kira asked.

“Absolutely.” 

“Save your money. We don't need her alive. I just need her heart that's what the spell is linked to. Give me that and I can find that damned parcel.” said Nergal who still couldn't find the parcel.

“We're not doing that, I already told you.” The wolf growled back.

“It will be a lot simpler. You can't trust humans. They always abandon you in the end.” A bitterness laced his voice.

At that moment Kira heard a voice in her head, it was Hermes.

“ _ Kira, listen to me. Even if Amarok wants to keep his word, the doll won't let him. He's too unstable. We need to get out and don't speak out loud, just think your answer.” _

“ _ But how?”  _ Kira asked as she saw the wolf and the doll argue.

“ _ I'm going to try and run the duplication spell again. That might cause enough confusion to help us get away. I think I'm strong enough again to break the outer shield that Nergal has put up.” _

Kira just nodded in response and she immediately felt this strange tingling sensation in her head. It was like a tiny electric current running through her head. She tried to keep herself calm as Hermes had said but the sound of the two creatures arguing next to her kept interrupting that peace.

“If you’re worried about the package going back to the Nursery, don’t be. I can keep that heart beating indefinitely without a body.” Nergal proclaimed proudly.

“Nergal, this has nothing to with your capabilities. She’s not part of this world, there’s no reason for her to die. All we need is the parcel. Now get back to looking for it.”

“You’ve gone soft, Amarok. Just give her to me if you don’t have it in you.”

That was all that Kira needed to hear. She may not be a god. But she wasn’t some thing that could talk about as if she didn’t have an identity. 

“Stop it.” Kira shouted as she slammed her hand on the table. Anger erupted in her brain and along with that something else too. The spell that Hermes was trying to run through her mind went into overdrive. It got far too much energy than it required and immediately black boxes of varying sizes started appearing all over the shop multiplying at a tremendous pace. But there was a lot of excess energy that was still left and that escaped her mind and a multicoloured shockwave went out in all direction knocking everything and everyone over and exploded out of the shop destroying the front door and windows. The three gods were too stunned to react as Kira stood there, knee deep in boxes, feeling light headed. The raw magical energy that had escaped her had completely shattered the illusion that Nergal had created. Kira saw that she was standing in a small storage area at the back of the shop barely twenty feet from the front entrance.

It was the growling that broke everyone out of their trance. They looked around and noticed that all the wild animal spirits that were being held at bay by Nergal’s shield were all inside the shop and they were looking hungrily at everyone. They were no longer interested in the parcel, since there was Nergal and his dolls that they could go after. They were all constructed of energy that the Spirits could feed on. Without any warning they attacked.

Strangely the energy release from Kira had helped strengthen Hermes, who instantly put up a shield and shouted, “Run.”

He picked up his shoes in his mouth, which were still disguised as small porcelain shoes and ran towards the entrance. Kira was still trying to process how she'd done what she'd done but Hermes’ voice reminded her that they weren't out of danger and they wouldn't get another chance of escaping and she followed him out of the shop. The wolf and the doll were both overwhelmed by the animal spirits. Hermes’ shield was strong enough to keep them at bay. It was almost comical for Kira to see all the strange animals bounce off them as they collided with the shield. A few seconds later they reached the car. Kira looked around and saw that the entire street was strewn with small black boxes. Kira looked back and she could see bright flashes of light and growls as the spirits clashed with the wolf and the dolls. She wondered what would happen to them but then realized that she didn’t particularly care.

Hermes jumped into the car and put the shoes on the dashboard.

“Put on your seatbelt and drive. The shoes will take care of the rest.” He said.

Kira nodded. She started the car and put her foot on the accelerator and the car leapt forward. A fraction of a second later it vanished in a blur of blue and gold lightning.


	6. Chapter 6

There were empty black boxes strewn all across the street along with pieces of glass and doll parts. It was the strangest explosion the cops had ever seen. Since Lancaster was a small town the police force wasn't particularly big and there were only two officers on the crime scene investigation unit and someone smart enough had decided that it would be wise to send them both on vacation at the same time.

Od and her crew observed the whole scene from afar.

“We're going to have to take a closer look.” Charl said as she rubbed her shoulder where Artemis’ bullet had grazed her.

“I know.” Od nodded and they all walked towards the destroyed trinket shop.

 

* * *

 

The cops standing around saw three figures step out of a black car and approach them. They were all dressed in black suits and looked very official in their demeanour.

“Can I help you?” asked the senior officer on the scene as the three black clad figures approached the police line.

“Homeland security.” Od announced as she flashed her badge.

“What?” The cop asked incredulously, “what’s Homeland Security doing here?”

“We heard there’s been an explosion. We just wanted to make sure it wasn’t some kind of terrorist activity. You can never be too sure these days.” Od replied.

The cop nodded and stepped out of her way. He had no intention of getting in the way of these big shot federal sorts. He figured he might as well have them do his job for him.

Od and her team crossed the police line and looked at all the black boxes spread out all over the sidewalk.

“What do you think happened here?” Charl asked.

“I’m guessing someone unleashed a spell, an uncontrolled spell.”

“But who?”

“Most likely it was the human. I think Hermes was right about her, she’s got potential. But she isn’t the only one we’ve got to worry about.” Od said as she got down on one knee and picked up a doll part. As she squeezed it, black liquid poured out of it.

“Nergal.” Charl said slowly.

“Yup.”

“We’ll have to get to her before that maniac does.”

“But how?” Od wondered out loud as she looked around trying to figure out where Hermes and the human might have gone.

“I think I might know someone who could help out.” a voice came from the alley on the side of the shop.

Od and Charl walked to the side of the shop to peek into the alley and spotted Ogun. He was holding a doll at arm’s length as it desperately trying to kick and claw at the tall God in a bid to escape. So far it’s attempts had proven unsuccessful.

“Well, well, well, what have we here? It must have gotten separated from the pack. You got a name, little one?” Charl asked the squirming doll.

“I’m wolverine, bitch. Come closer I’ll show you my claws.” It shrieked in a high pitched voice.

Od couldn’t tell if it was a male or female voice but she was leaning towards feminine, not that it mattered, whatever semblance of race and gender that poor soul had had was long since gone and all that was left was this brutalised thing trapped in the body of a plastic doll. It would have tried to slash at the goddess if Ogun didn’t have it’s entire upper body enclosed in the palm of his hand.

“Be polite or I’m going to start squeezing harder.” Ogun threatened.

“Oh, suck my plastic dick, asshole.” The doll replied.

Charl chuckled.

“I doubt it's going to be helpful.”

“I guess you’re right.” Od said, “Just tie it to a dumpster and leave it here. I’m sure sooner or later Nergal will come looking for it.”

Saying that Od turned to leave. Ogun was about to drop the doll when the doll called out to her.

“Hey, come one. I was just messing around.” The doll called out in sweetest voice it could come up with.

Od turned around and she could see the fear in it’s dead eyes. She knew how terrified they were of Nergal.

“I knew that too. Tell you what, you help us out and in return we’ll keep you away from your maker.”

“I can do that.” The doll looked visibly relieved. It figured if it hung around with these gods, maybe it’s master won’t come looking for it. The master was never happy with the ones who got lost and he had the most foul temper.

“Alright, so do you have a way to help us track down the girl and the cat she’s with.”

 

* * *

 

It was an open highway and fairly empty. It was surrounded by a forest caught in the early winds of winter and a light snowfall had started. A lonely deer had strayed onto the road looking for a way to cross the highway to get to a lake on the other side of the forest. It raised it’s nose to smell the air trying to sense any kind of danger when out of nowhere a car appeared right in front of it and whooshed past it. The deer literally jumped backwards in complete panic and then it turned and ran back into it’s part of the woods. It yelled some of its choicest abuses, in deer language, at the driver and then told itself that it would cross the highway some other day.

Goddamn humans!

 

* * *

 

Kira was too stunned to even react at the sudden appearance of the deer. She was still trying to wrap her brains around the fact that she was on a highway instead of being in the city. When Hermes had mentioned that the shoes would give them speed he had failed to mention how much speed and apparently it was a lot.

"Whoa, that was fast. Where the hell are we?" Kira asked as the car finally slowed down to a reasonable speed. She took out her phone to check her location.

“Holy fuck, we’re three hundred miles from my home. We're in fucking Canada. Where the hell are we going?” she turned towards her cat and asked.

The cat looked up at Leah.

“I’m not entirely sure. I know the destination but each package takes it’s own route for safety and even the entry point into the destination shifts based on the route. Show me the box and I’ll tell you where exactly we’re headed."

Kira picked the box up of the dashboard and put it in front of Hermes. The cat studied it for a while.

“I think we’re going to the northern part of Canada.” Hermes announced.

“Really?”

“Looks like it, from the map on the box.”

“But that’s....  far.” Kira was starting to feel grumpy again.

“Oh, don’t worry it won’t take too long, not at the speed at which we’re travelling.”

“Yeah, which brings me to my next question.” Leah started again.

“You have a lot of questions.”

“Considering that I’m delivering a magical box to Canada and talking to my cat, I think I’m well within my rights to ask questions and we've got time now, since no one's trying kill us.” Kira retorted.

“Fine, what is your next question?” The cat sighed.

“Why have we slowed down?”

“Oh that, that’s because the shoes are recharging.” The cat replied.

Kira kept looking at Hermes for a more detailed explanation.

“The shoes can’t maintain their speed perpetually. Usually they’re just carrying me so I can travel a lot further before I need to stop, but right now it’s carrying the both of us and the car so it will run out of energy faster.Also when I'm in my body it uses my energy to charge up.” Hermes explained.

“How long do they take to recharge?”

“Not long, usually about fifteen minutes. So just keep driving.”

Kira went back to concentrating on the road but she was beginning to feel a little thirsty.

“Hey, don't me a favour, there should be a bag on the back seat . I usually have an energy drink in there. Could you get it for me?” Kira asked Hermes.

“How, it's not like I've got hands.” Hermes complained.

“I don't know, use your teeth. I'm busy driving.” Kira answered.

The cat shook its head and jumped off the dashboard and made its way to the back seat. It got to the backpack and managed to open it with his paws. He stuck his head in trying to find this so called energy drink but then in the darkness he was greeted by a pair of glowing red eyes. He jumped back as the doll hiding in Kira's backpack tore it's way out of it and jumped at the cat. Unbeknownst to them while they were busy in the shop one of the dolls had snuck into their car at the behest of its master as a backup, in case things had gone south and they had.

Hermes snarled and leapt back as the doll took out its knife and took a swipe at the cat. Hermes was trying to avoid it while trying to figure out a way to get to its neck.

Kira turned around trying to figure out why the commotion was and saw her cat trying to fight off the bloodthirsty doll. She almost lost control of the car.

“Keep driving, I'll handle this.” Hermes shouted back and jumped on to the backrest of the back seat barely avoiding the doll’s knife which got ended up slashing the seat cover.

“Come here kitty cat, I promise I'll be quick.” The doll said as it tried to climb onto the backrest.

It was using the knife as a pick axe trying to jam it into the cushion and using it as leverage to climb. Hermes who was on top of the backrest, took that chance and jumped on the doll when it's knife was stuck in the cushion. Hermes landed behind the doll as it was trying to dislodge its knife from the cushion but it was too slow. The cat immediately pounced on its neck.

The doll struggled trying to break free but the cat’s grip was too strong. Hermes was desperately trying to break its neck. That was the only way to immobilise the doll and it succeeded. He put all its weight on the doll and heard a loud snap and the doll collapsed on the back seat having lost all its motor functions.

Hermes rolled it over and the doll smiled at him.

“It doesn't matter what you do to me, he already knows where you are.” The doll grinned at him.

“What does it mean?” Kira asked.

“Nergal can use any of its dolls as a homing beacon. Quick lower the window, I'm going to throw it out.”

Saying that Hermes picked up the doll in its mouth by its neck and tried to climb on top of the side door trying to get till the open window but he was already too late. He heard the roar of an SUV as it pulled up next to them. As he dropped the doll onto the road, he turned his head and a familiar face smiled back at him.

“Hello Kitty, did you miss me?” Nergal grinned baring his extremely sharp fangs. He was sitting behind the driver. He opened the door and an army of knife wielding dolls lunged towards the Honda Civic.

“Some of my friends would like to say hello” the doll laughed and told the driver of the SUV to hang back so he could watch the show.

Pretty soon another SUV caught up with them. This one had Amarok and his crew.

Luckily not all of the dolls made it. A lot of them fell to the ground and got crushed under the wheels of the car. Leah could hear the crunching sound as the wheels went over them. But unluckily, enough of them made it and they were crawling up the car trying to find a way in.

“Fuck” Kira and the cat shouted together. Thankfully all the car windows were closed again.

“Fuck.” shouted Kira again as one of the dolls began plunging a knife through the roof of the car. She could see four more trying to climb up from the hood of the car. They were using their knives to hold themselves in place. At that moment one of the dolls had managed to pierce it’s knife through the passenger side window. Hermes was hiding under the passenger seat as Kira was zigzagging the car in a desperate attempt to throw some of the dolls off.

One of them had managed to break and climb in through the passenger side window. It jumped onto the seat and steadied itself. Then it looked up at Kira who was busy driving and hadn’t noticed the doll eyeing her murderously. It got up and lunged at her with the knife raised. Kira saw the movement out of the corner of her eye and turned to see the doll flying towards her. She was sure this was the end when a shot rang out and the doll exploded mid air. The knife flew off course and pierced the driver seat. Kira heaved a sigh of relief and then looked back to see where the bullet had come from.

In the back seat was a young blue haired girl dressed in black, who had dropped in out of thin air, and she was holding a massive hand gun which almost looked like a cannon.

 

* * *

 

 “Hi, I’m Mal, need help.” she said cheerfully as she started shooting the dolls climbing up the hood. She turned out to be an excellent shot. She took out another pistol from her purse and handed it to Leah.

“You might need this?”

Kira took the gun that was offered to her, still dazed from the sudden appearance of the girl.

“I’ve never fired a gun before.” Kira commented as Mal shot at another doll that was trying to climb in through the back window.

“Oh, it simple just point and shoot, just like a camera.” Mal grinned. She was having way too much fun with all this violence.

In the meantime, another doll had managed to climb in through the passenger window. Kira took Mal’s advice and did the point and shoot thing and, to her surprise, it worked. The doll exploded into a million pieces.

That was the last of the dolls.

It was then that Hermes climbed back onto the passenger seat.

“Hey Mal, thanks for dropping by.”

“Hi Hermes, anytime and by the way you look very cute as a cat. Can I keep you as a pet?” Mal joked.

Before Hermes could reply bullets started hitting the car from behind. Hermes had managed to put up a shield so the bullets couldn’t touch them but the shield didn’t extend far enough and the bullets still managed to do tremendous damage to the rear of the car.

“Who the fuck’s chasing us?” asked Mal as he ducked reflexively.

“It’s Amarok's crew and Nergal.” Hermes replied.

“Damn that wolf. Is this shield one way?” Mal shouted as she pulled out two Ingram Mac-11s from her seemingly tiny purse.

“Yes, you should be able to shoot back just fine” the cat shouted back as he once again jumped under the seat. Kira was still zig zagging trying to avoid the hail of gunfire.

Now it was Mal’s turn to let loose. Of the two SUVs following them, the first one bore the brunt of the attack. But it seemed like they had bullet proof windows and were probably armoured so they weren’t sustaining too much damage. Mal knew that drastic measure were called for.

She pulled out a knife from her purse that would put Rambo to shame.

“Mind if I make a sunroof?” she asked. But it wasn’t much of a question as she had already started to cut a large hole in the roof of the car, before Kira could answer.

Eventually Kira just gave up trying to make sense of anything that was happening. She leaned out of her window and began shooting at the chasing SUVs. She figured she might as well enjoy herself.  

Once Mal had finished making the hole she put away the knife. She then put her hand deep into her tiny little bag. Her arm went in all the up to her elbow into the bag, which shouldn’t have taken anything more than her hand and she pulled out double barreled rocket launcher.

She stood up through the self made sunroof and aimed the rocket launcher at the first SUV. She targeted the first SUV and fired.

“Hey Nergal, say hello to my little friend.” Mal shouted as the first SUV exploded and flipped and rolled over the highway. The SUV behind it swerved to avoid a collision with the fireball.

“That takes care of the Doll.” Mal said cheerfully.

Mal fired again but Thoth, who was driving the second SUV was better and he managed to avoid the rocket. The missile exploded harmlessly as it impacted into the trees.

"Damn it." Mal threw away the rocket launcher and picked up the MAC-11s again.

The SUV started to gain on them. Mal ducked back in to recharge when the side door of the SUV opened and someone jumped onto the roof of the car. Whoever it was started shooting into the car through the roof.

“Stop shooting holes in my car” Kira lost her temper and began shooting back.

“That’s the spirit.” Mal grinned. She was enjoying this change in the girl driving the car and then she climbed up through the sunroof to check on their unwelcome passenger. Whoever was on top seemed quite strong and he pulled Mal through the sunroof. The car began to shake as the two of them fought on top of the car. It seemed that Amarok had hired a few more helping hands.

Through all of this Kira had barely paid any attention to the road and when she did look straight ahead she saw a small black speck in the distance but it seemed to be coming at them at a rapid pace. It, strangely, didn’t look like a vehicle and that worried Kira.

“What’s that?” Kira asked her cat who seemed to be occupied listening to the fight on the rooftop.

Hermes looked at Kira, who was pointing to the road. The cat jumped on the dashboard and looked in the direction that Kira was pointing. He stared for a few seconds.

“Oh shit, can’t I just catch break.” Hermes moaned.

“What is it?” Kira was even more worried that before.

“That’s a Khalkotauroi.” the cat’s voice was mixture of awe and fear.

“Is that bad?” Kira asked, even though given how her day was turning out she was already expecting the worst.

“Yes very, it’s a fire breathing bull the size of a goddamn house. If that thing hits us at top speed we’ll be nothing more than dust in the wind. Only Nergal is crazy enough to unleash that spell. Those things are notorious to control.” Hermes was now beginning to panic even as he was trying to think of a way out.

That sounded a lot worse than anything Kira had imagined.

“Can’t we just use the shoes?” Kira asked.

“No, they’re not even close to being charged yet. We need another way out and we need it in less than a minute.” Hermes began looking around.

With every passing second the black dot became larger. In a few seconds Kira was able to make out the rough shape of the bull and she could also see the smoke coming out of the Khalkotauroi’s nose.

“Anything.” Kira asked. She couldn’t even turn because the road was walled by a thick forest on either side.

Kira had no idea what to do. She had a mad wolf and its team shooting holes in her car. A blue haired warrior fighting some unknown assailant on the roof and she was driving towards a head-on collision with a giant fire breathing bull. All she wanted was a break, was that too much to ask and then her prayers were answered.

“Got it.” Hermes shouted excitedly.

“What?” Kira was excited too. Maybe they weren’t going die on that lonely highway after all. She promised herself that if she got back in one piece she would finish that fan fiction she was writing.

“Just keep driving straight and turn right when I say so.” Hermes told her.

“Turn right where?”

“Just trust me and turn.” Hermes looked at Kira and replied confidently. Even though all of this was his fault, he had managed to keep Kira alive so far and she decided to trust him one more time.

“Mal, we need to get off this road. Get rid of him, now.” Hermes commanded.

On the roof, the man was trying to strangle the blue-haired girl who was beginning to get mad. Her eyes glowed red and her hair changed color to a flaming red. She punched the man in the face with her left hand. The man slipped and his legs moved slightly. This freed Mal’s right hand and she pulled out the gun from her waist and shot the man through the heart. The man’s grip began to loosen. Mal pushed him off the car and then man fell to the road and was run over by the following SUV. Mal took a deep breath and sat up on the roof and made the mistake of looking at in front. The bull was now fairly close. She could see it’s bronze heels tearing up the asphalt. She immediately jumped into the car through the sunroof, not that the car would provide them any protection against a fifty ton bull.

“Hermes, tell me you have plan to get us out of here.”

“Just ten more seconds.” replied the cat who was staring intently at the road as if it was looking for something.

“I don’t think we have ten seconds.” shouted Kira who was staring at the giant monstrosity charging at them.

The SUV behind them slowed down. The wolf knew there was nothing he could do now. The bull had been summoned by Nergal because he was too pissed off to think straight. Amarok could see twenty five years of planning going down the drain. If the human girl died the parcel would return back to the nursery and heaven knew when they would get another shot at it.

The Khalkotauroi was almost on top of them. The road was starting to tremble under its hooves and it raised it’s head to breathe fire.

“Now” shouted Hermes. “Turn right now.”

Kira looked to her right and there was nothing but trees, but she still did as she was told. She pulled a hard right turn and closed her eyes, fully expecting to ram into the trees but it never happened. She quickly opened her eyes and saw that they were on road surrounded by green undulating hills. The entire wintery landscape was gone.

 

* * *

 

Back on the road, Amarok saw the car turn right and disappear. He immediately figured out what Hermes had done. But then he realized, too late, that his car was now in a direct collision course with the Khalkotauroi. He opened the side door and jumped onto the road as the bull tore through the SUV. His crew followed suit. The car was shredded instantly. Amarok rolled on the road and ended up in a ditch near the trees.

He lay there for a while, dazed and confused. As he slowly got up and he saw the bull dissipate into smoke. He got up on his feet. His coat was torn and his head was bleeding. He figured he might have even cracked a few ribs. The Wolf grabbed his sides and slowly limped back onto the road and sat on the asphalt. The one good thing about being a god was that you always healed quickly, but that didn’t mean that the injuries didn’t hurt.

As he sat there healing, the red-eyed doll made it’s way out of the flaming wreckage.The wolf’s crew was also gathering together. They were all there except Niorun who was lying motionless in the middle of the flaming wreckage.

Artemis limped towards her and pulled her out of the wreckage. It looked like Niorun hadn't been able to get out of the car in time and had taken the full force of the bull’s charge.

“What the fuck just happened?” the doll asked irritatedly and it walked up to them. Even the doll was much the worse for wear.

“I can ask you the same thing.” The wolf shouted back. “What the fuck were you thinking summoning that thing. I told you we can't kill the human yet you have zero self control even in the face of such and opportunity you'll happily let it go to shit just to satisfy your anger.”

“Hey, I didn't want to be here. I was happy sitting in my lab. You called me.” Nergal shouted back as his eyes blazed red with anger.

The wolf knew better than to piss off the doll. He calmed himself down and spoke.

“Go back and wait in your lab. I'll get in touch once we have the parcel.”

For a moment the doll looked as it was going to do something stupid but in the end good sense prevailed. He nodded, opened a portal and promptly disappeared.

By then the rest of Amarok's crew had gathered as well.

“What the fuck just happened, where the hell did Hermes go?” Thoth asked.

“He found a Pathway.” The werewolf replied with a grudging admiration for his enemy. This was the second time they had managed to outsmart him. He promised himself that there wouldn’t be a third.

“Tricky bastard.” Thoth replied.

Artemis caught with them as well carrying Niorun.

“I think she's going to need some rest.” Artemis said.

The wolf nodded in response.

 

As the gods sat on the side of the road taking a small break from their disastrous day, the deer had once again come back to the edge of the forest to check out what the commotion was all about.

Amarok saw the deer standing there looking at them curiously.

“Is anyone hungry?” he asked his ragtag company.

“Sure.” Replied everyone, as their eyes lit up at the mention of food.

“How about roast deer?”

  
This was turning out to be an even worse day for the deer.


	7. Chapter 7

The Wolf had the deer slung over his right shoulder. He had decided to store it for now and skin and cure it later when they had more time. Even though in these modern times he could always get a meal at any restaurant, he still liked hunting every now and then after all that was his nature. 

Amarok and his team were in the forest. They needed to find a safe place to put Niorun so she could recuperate. She had taken the brunt of the charge of the bull and they knew she wouldn't be waking up for the next few days. If they had the time they would have just taken her back to her apartment but that wasn’t an option at the moment. They all agreed on putting her in a protective shield and burying her. The Earth in the forest would help her heal. 

Amarok was carrying her over his left shoulder with Thoth walking by his side. Artemis was a few steps ahead of them looking for a place where they could lay her down. Thoth could see that she was furious. She would have killed The Doll right then and there but she was a professional. They needed Nergal at the moment. She could always look him up once the mission was over.

As they were walking, Thoth looked a little troubled, like he had a question but wasn’t sure if he should ask. He didn’t want to look stupid asking a silly question. He was after all the God of knowledge.

“What?” The Wolf said.

“Hmmm...” Thoth looked up at his boss.

“I’ve seen that look before, you want to ask me something. So ask.”

“It’s nothing really. I was just wondering...” 

“Wondering what?”

“I was wondering, why don’t we just go after The Vault? I mean, if we wanted we could get enough mercs together to hit The Vault.”

The Wolf chuckled.

“That's what we thought too when we tried it nearly fifteen hundred years ago. Didn't really work out as we'd planned.”

“You did? I never heard about it.”

“No one did. It ended faster than it began. I used to be part of a different crew back then. A few hunter packs got together and decided to go after The Vault. We managed to get past the outer wall but we really weren't prepared to face the guardians of the inner wall. No one was.”

“The Guardians are real? You've seen them?” Thoth asked wide eyed.

Even amongst the gods some things were thought to be myths, The Guardians were foremost amongst them since no one had ever laid eyes on them. Not even the gods that worked at the Vault. 

“Not really. I don't know what I saw. Seven of us made it to the inner wall. Seven out of thirty and I was one of the only three that got out. I still don't know what exactly hit us but it was unlike anything I'd seen before or since. There haven't been a lot of moments in my existence that I've been scared but at that moment I was terrified.”

“I've heard they never leave the vault.”

“I don't think they do, at least not to my knowledge.”

Saying that Amarok stopped and put Niorun’s prone body on the first floor along with the deer. Artemis had stopped a few feet ahead of them. It looked like she had found an appropriate place to bury the Goddess of illusion. 

Artemis looked back at the wolf and nodded. The wolf and Thoth took the shovels that Artemis was carrying and began to dig.

 

* * *

 

As the wolf and the hunters were digging in the forest, Kira was stopping her bullet-ridden Honda Civic in the middle of a dirt road surrounded by green fields. The whole countryside looked like something out of a storybook with rolling hills and small cottages in the distance with smoke rising from their chimneys. She stepped out of the car along with Hermes as Mal got out through the back seat door. The door was so bullet-ridden that it almost fell off the hinges. She managed to put it back in it’s place but it didn’t seem to be in the mood to stick around in its place for too long. It was miracle that the car was even running, guess they could thank the Japanese for that.

Kira was lost, it was beginning to become her natural state. She looked up at the sky and got lost even more. There were far too many moons up there. She could count four. Her brain was having a lot of difficulty keeping up with it all. 

"Where are we?" She asked Hermes.

The cat was sitting on the roof of the car licking itself, much to the dismay of the Greek god that had taken temporary residence inside. He finally managed to get Coco to stop licking itself so that he could answer Kira.

"It's called a Pathway. Nobody knows if they are real or artificial but if you know your way around them, they can get to any part of the world in a matter of minutes. Think of it as a land locked wormhole." Hermes explained.

"And you knew about that opening back there?" This time it was Mal who asked the question.

"Not really, that was just dumb luck. We still haven't plotted all the various entry points in the Pathways, we still manage to find new ones all the time. Which reminds me, once I get back I should make a note of this in the Pathways Codex." 

"Well, I guess it was about time our luck turned around." Mal said. 

“Actually my luck's been pretty good so far. I think sooner rather than later it’s going to run out. I just want to get to the vault before that happens.” Hermes replied. 

"Wait, can't Amarok follow us?" Kira was starting to panic again.

"Not really, any entry to a Pathway can only be used once in a day. I don't know why, but that's just the way it is." it was Mal who answered Kira.

She heaved a sigh of relief. She had enough of killer dolls and mad wolves for now. 

"Alright, enough chit chat, who wants something to eat, because I am famished." Mal said as she started to dig into her bottomless purse and began pulling out spoons and forks and plates.

A little while later all three of them were sitting under a tree not too far from the road, having a picnic. Mal had an entire picnic basket in that bag of hers along with a lot of other goodies and for a while everyone forgot about their terrible day and just got busy enjoying their meal. 

Sitting there beneath the overcrowded sky, Kira ate her sandwich and played with the tiny little package that had caused them so much trouble.

"Now that no ones chasing us mind telling me what’s in this box that's making everyone want to kill me for it?" Kira questioned Hermes, who was busy eating his own meal.

The cat looked up and started to think. He was trying to decide how much the human needed to know.

"I trying to figure out where to start because just telling you what's in the box is not going to help you understand what's going on."

"Alright so start at the beginning, help me understand."

Hermes sighed and began to think if it was alright to burden this young human with the knowledge of the gods. But he figured that the young woman seemed wise enough and had gone through a lot that she deserved some answers.

"The funny thing is even I don't know the beginning but I'll tell what I do know. First, let me ask you a question?"

Kira leaned in a bit to hear Hermes's question.

"What do you think gives a God it’s strength? What makes it powerful?" Hermes asked.

Kira was surprised by esoteric nature of the question. 

"I don't know,.... magic?" Kira couldn't think of anything else to say.

Hermes chuckled.

"No, it's nothing that fancy. It's actually much more simpler than that but it could be considered magic in it's own right. Give it another shot. You’re smart enough, you can figure it out." Hermes said.

This time Kira thought a little before she answered.

“Well...” She started slowly, “religion is about faith, about believing in a higher power. So is it faith, is that what gives you strength?”

Hermes smiled.

“Yes, that’s exactly it. But it’s not exactly faith, it’s just that people believe in us. Belief is what gives a god strength. The more people that believe in a god or a pantheon of gods, the stronger they become."

Kira thought about this.

"That makes sense. It's like a TV show, the more the number of viewers the better the ratings."

The cat smiled at the analogy.

"Yeah, something like that. But the big difference is that in the case of gods, their followers belief actually becomes a source of energy that the gods feed upon."

Suddenly, Kira had an interesting question in her mind.

"But what if no one is watching the show."

The cat stared at her for a while, the god inside was genuinely impressed by the question.

"That's an excellent question. What does happen if no one watches the show, what do you think happens?"

Kira was once again lost in her thoughts.

"I don't know. Does a god.... die, if no one believes in it any longer? Is that even possible?"

Kira couldn't believe the thoughts that were crossing her mind. Even the thought that a god could die seemed preposterous, but then she realized that she was sitting in the presence of a god. So, maybe anything was possible.

Hermes seemed saddened by the assumption, because it was too close to the truth.

"Not really. Gods can't die. They can be killed but, on their own, they can't die. If a god loses its followers then eventually, over time, it will just fall into a deep slumber." 

Hermes paused for a second before continuing.

"The universe is a very strange place Kira, and somewhere in those strange depths is a giant repository where every forgotten god sleeps. They sleep there and dream of the day when someone might pray to them again so they can come back to life."

"Yeah, that's if you're lucky and not everyone is." Mal interrupted the cat's narration. She sounded angry.

Kira turned and looked at Mal.

"I know, Mal. I've lost friends too." Hermes said sadly. “The hunters got her entire pantheon, she’s the only one who escaped.” he turned towards Kira and said.

"I'm sorry about your family." Kira said.

"It's not your fault. That's just the natural order of things. There are prey and there are predators. I don't exactly hate the hunters. They are part of the system of checks and balances. They weed out the weak. If you're strong enough you'll survive even without followers. Look at me. I'm still here."

Kira thought about it for a while as they all sat in silence.

"But wait, I understand about her, but how come you're still around Hermes. Why haven't the Greek gods gone off to sleep?"

Hermes suddenly laughed. His laughter broke the tension that had built up over the past few minutes.

"You won't believe it even if I tell you. Most days even I don't believe it."

 

* * *

 

As Amarok and Thoth were digging, Artemis was making preparations for the shield. She looked down into shallow ditch that the wolf and the God of knowledge were digging.

“The Guardians did leave the vault once.”

Amarok looked up at the archer waiting for her to continue.

“Zeus told me about it. He said that’s what caused the destruction of Atlantis.”

“That's just a myth Arty.” Thoth said.

“I don’t think so. He seemed pretty sure of his source.”

“What was his source?” Amarok asked.

“One of the old ones told him about it.”

“The old ones?” Thoth looked a little lost.

“The Savages. The old gods that the humans prayed to when they were in the hunter gatherer stage. Before there was written language. They were a blood-thirsty lot. But then so were the humans back then, not that the humans have improved a lot since then.” Amarok explained.

“Yeah, one of them. Zeus said she was one of the old ones. She and her mate were part of the original crew that provided security for the harvests back when the Egyptians were just coming up with the idea for a pyramid. None of them really knew about how dangerous the parcel was, neither did they care. The Guardians had chosen not to tell them what the parcel actually was. They were just happy that they had something to do rather than wallow in self-pity. But they’d forgotten about their brethren. The others like them to whom no one prayed anymore because the humans had gotten civilised.”

“So what happened.” Thoth asked. He had stopped digging and was looking up at the Archer waiting for her to finish her tale.

“Well, from whatever Zeus told me, some of the savages got wind of the harvest. About twenty of them got together and attacked the convoy. Not all of them made it out alive but they managed to get their hands on the parcel. Zeus said they opened the package and just bit into the globe as if it was some kind of a fruit.”

“Oh fuck.” Thoth said.

“Oh fuck is a very apt. The whole thing exploded. Most of them died, the few who survived went mad. The parcel contains so much power that couldn't handle it. They went on a rampage, destroyed entire empires. There are quite a few legends of them around that time in older texts. Some say they were the cause of the plagues in Egypt, but I’m not sure of that.”

“I doubt that. I’m pretty sure that was one of my people just to screw around with the Egyptians,” Thoth said with a chuckle, “but there was a storm and a flood in those early days that none of us could explain.”

“That could have been them. Anyways, no one could figure out how to stop them. The Guardians didn’t want to bring in any of the current active pantheons and the older gods weren't strong enough so eventually they had to leave The Vault to handle it themselves. They finally cornered them on Atlantis. They killed all of them but they didn’t want to take a chance, so they turned the entire island into a rock prison and sank it into the ocean. That’s the only time ever they left The Vault.”

“Holy fuck, what the hell are they? I mean if they can kill supercharged gods what else are they capable of?” Thoth was starting to sweat a little.

“Who the fuck knows.” Artemis replied.

They went back to preparing the ditch as Artemis put the final touches on the shield spell. Amarok and Thoth finally got out of the ditch and lowered Niorun into it and activated the spell. The ditch disappeared from plain sight.

As they turned around to leave Thoth finally spoke up.

“Could someone tell me why we’re going after this thing?” Thoth asked.

Artemis and Amarok looked at each other and Amarok replied.

“Because this is our get rich plan Thoth and besides, we’re not as stupid as The Savages.” Amarok said.

His team just nodded their head and made their way out of the woods.

“Or at least I’m hoping we’re not.” The wolf muttered under his breath as he followed them out.

 

* * *

 

As The Wolf and his team reluctantly got back on the road searching for the elusive parcel, Kira was waiting for Hermes to explain how his pantheon managed to wake up from their slumber.

"Tell me." Kira was even more curious than before.

“Literature, that’s why we are still around.” Hermes said with a smile. 

“What do you mean, literature?” now she was just confused.

“We always thought that belief only meant prayers or some form of religious ceremony but when we suddenly found ourselves back on earth after a millenia of sleep we couldn’t find any evidence of anyone praying to us. So we started to look and to our surprise we found that the reason we were back was because there were people writing stories about us and in recent years that number has multiplied a hundredfold. Now there are movies ,comics and those things called YA novels, all those things made us stronger and we realised that belief comes in many different forms. It doesn't matter if no one prays to us, as long as they believe in our existence we remain strong. Maybe not as strong as before but strong enough.”

“So you’re telling me that you’re here because of Percy Jackson?” Kira asked incredulously. 

Hermes and Mal laughed.

“In a way, yes.”

Kira laughed too. The world was a very strange place indeed.

For a while they all sat around having their lunch and the gods regaled Kira with tales of their adventures until she realized that in all their conversation no one had still answered the question that she had asked.

“Wait, you still haven’t told me what’s in the box?”

“Oh yeah, I never did, did I? Well, to explain it as simply as possible it a power source for the gods. Imagine the belief of an entire planet converted into a usable energy course like gasoline, that little parcel allows you to access it.”

“Then why don’t you use it?” Kira enquired of the god.

“Trust me, if I could I would. We all would. But it’s not as simple as just opening it up and biting into it as if it were an apple.”

“So what’s the issue?”

“The issue is one of compatibility. Whatever form that power source is in, we can’t seem to consume it. It's like PC and Mac. The software and hardware are just not compatible and believe me there are those who’ve tried. They all went mad and you don’t want to be around when a god goes mad. That's when volcanoes erupt and cities get levelled.”

“But then why is everyone after it, if it can’t be used?”

“Because everyone’s desperate, Kira.” Hermes replied sadly, “Don't you understand, we were all powerful once. Entire nations prayed to use and now we are nothing more than characters in some teen fantasy novel, that's if we're lucky. If you were in our position and there is even a one percent chance that you could regain your old strength back wouldn’t you try?”

Kira didn’t really have much of an answer but she could sympathise.

“Didn’t you say that this thing was unstable?” Kira asked with a look of panic on her face given that they had been sitting under that tree for quite some time.

“It is. It needs to be kept in a special climate controlled chamber. As long as it remains inside the box it’s stable but only for a week or so, if it doesn’t reach The vault before that, then it can explode and you don’t even want to be on the same continent when that happens. So I suggest that we should get back to the road.” saying that Hermes got up.

Kira and Mal got up in a hurry as well and began to make their way back to the car.


End file.
